Pathways to Democracy

Contemporary Political Chatter in the Winter of our Discontents

-By Doug Garnar

From the passage of the Alien & Sedition Acts in 1797 to the Civil
War and on to the civil rights, women’s suffrage, LGBTQ and environmental movements, rarely has there a period in American history without rancorous political discourse, some leading to outright violence.  The idea of a divided America is not just a contemporary feature of our county.

Imagine you are an historian writing a century from now.  What artifacts of the political chatter of the period from 1960 to 2020 might you select to illustrate some of the core sources of discontent/division?  The following is a short list and I hope readers might come up with their own lists:

The aforementioned political chatter does not bode well for the children of today, some who will live into the 22nd century.  Yet there is a sign of hope in the “Greta effect”.  Several weeks ago, Time named the 16-year-old Swedish girl, Greta Thunberg, Person of the Year.  She has challenged the powers to be ranging from Parliaments and international bodies to even the Pope to recognize that little time is left to wrestle with the looming disaster of climate change.  She and thousands of other young people are making their voices heard.   Young people are also interested in other issues, such as gun violence as evidenced by the youth movement following the shootings at Parkland HS.  The Black Lives Matter movement is yet another reflection of young people tackling the problem of racism.  Generation Z, and those to follow, may be the salvation of humanity.  Their willingness to embrace the values of strong democracy*, reason, science, altruism and empathy for all should give us cause for hope.

*Strong democracy is rooted in the need for much greater civic engagement by citizens. Deliberative forums, public voice events, and public policy-oriented study circles are but a sampling.  In addition, schools need to weave in their K-12 programs a civic engagement theme.

I will resume looking at deliberative forums in succeeding months and I can be reached by email at garnardc@sunybroome.edu