November5 Coalition
At yesterday's screening of "50-50: The American Divide", a prominent theme in the discussion was that just voting, and trying to hold candidates to account for their promises, is—though important—not nearly enough. If our democracy is to survive (or revive) in any useful form, we need to have much more citizen involvement. We can't just vote for politicians and expect them to be our saviors. They can't do that, and we shouldn't expect them to. What we should expect is that they and we find ways, together, to realize our visions.
These ideas are being brought into clearer focus by the November5 Coalition (named for the day after the 2008 presidential election). The coalition is just getting started, but its web site has a lot of interesting material. A few paragraphs from the manifesto give the flavor of the enterprise:
Elections have become too much about celebrities and consultants, not about citizenship. They treat people as consumers, not as citizens who want to be involved with each other, informed about issues, and engaged with our government.
It’s time to break this pattern. We need a new politics of respect for citizen voice and citizen capacity. During the coming months, interactions between voters and candidates will offer opportunities for citizens to take campaigns back from pundits and pollsters, big donors and consultants. How? By creating chances to ask real, rather than scripted, questions. By opening space for citizens to discuss issues with one another, as well as with candidates. Most of all, we need to hear how candidates’ policies will tap civic energies and develop civic capacities. What are candidates’ ideas for engaging people in government’s day-to-day efforts if they get elected? How would they involve citizens in policy matters that they are considering? How would they structure government to support such work? Alexis de Tocqueville, the famous observer of American democracy, observed almost two hundred years ago that “Action of [citizens] joined to that of the public authorities frequently accomplishes what the most energetic centralized administration would be unable to do.� This is more true than ever today - and we know more than ever about how to structure and sustain these kinds of citizen-government collaborations. We should be past the stage where candidates can utter vague pronouncements about citizenship and public life without having to say exactly how they are going to implement their ideas.
We also need change on the voters’ side. As the bipartisan National Commission on Civic Renewal put it in their report about democracy, we have become too much “spectators and consumers.� Our ability to work across differences has weakened. We have a private culture of avoidance and accusation, not a public culture of accountability and action. We must roll up our sleeves, change this culture from “Me to We,� and advance ideas about work that has been done and needs to be done. We need to stop simply asking, “What can you give us?� We need to ask, “How will you work with us?�
If their comments and questions at "50-50" are any indication, it appears that students are particularly attracted to this line of thought and action. Let's hope that they—and we—follow through. We need to make our politics an example of genuine, sustained engagement, not a spectator sport.