Every other Tuesday, the team being Civics 101 joins NHPR’s All Things Considered host Julia Barnett to talk about how our democratic institutions actually work.
This week, Civics 101 host Nick Capodice spoke with Julia about how a lot of us are feeling when it comes to engaging civically, whether that’s frustration, apathy, or declining trust with our elected officials, and what we can do about it.
Transcript
So Nick, over at Civics 101, you and Hannah just finished a series on why various groups in the US are “having a tough time.” First off, what do you mean by that?
Well explicitly, I mean civics-wise. Teachers and students across the country are struggling when it comes to civics and social studies, and that is largely due to a divisive political climate. But the last episode addressed the populace at large: all of us. A lack of faith in the government, disengagement with the political process, a declining trust in the work being done by all three branches, and a continued — since the 1950s, in fact — drop in the feeling that it is essential for America to adhere to democratic principles, namely, a government by and for the people.
What do you imagine is causing this decline?
Well there are a ton of potential reasons, but one that I hadn’t considered was something that we learned from the historian Jill Lepore, who said that Americans used to be much more involved in their own government, through the process of constitutional conventions. And I’m not talking about the Constitution, but I’m talking about state conventions.
People would get together in massive numbers to debate what laws should govern them. To steal a quote from Professor Lepore, “laws govern people but constitutions govern government.” Elected officials would propose timely amendments, and they would be sent to the people for ratification. That is a government by and for the people.
But, we do not do that much anymore. The last state constitutional convention was in the 1980s in Rhode Island. And maybe this is part of the reason we feel like we just cast our vote and cross our fingers, because we’re not involved in the actual lawmaking process in any way whatsoever.
Coming back to where we are now, I want to talk about modern-day feelings about politics. In the last year, there have been record-breaking protests, people are more engaged in online debate than ever before, but there continues to be this feeling that nothing changes as a result of those efforts. Is there something else people could be doing?
Absolutely, Julia, I spoke to Eitan Hersh. He is the author of “Politics is For Power,” who argues that interacting online, arguing with family members, sharing articles, even being well-read on daily politics is, while not a bad thing, it’s not something that will actually make a change. He refers to all these things as political hobbyism. The reason it has no practical effect on the system is because it doesn’t address power. Politics is power. And the only way to get what you want is to work on shifting that power from one place to another.
So how can people do that?
Well the first step is by being hyperlocal. It is astonishing how easy it is to gain power on the state and local level. You can find a group that is working towards an issue you care about, or you can do it yourself.
Here in New Hampshire, every bill has a committee hearing. Go to that hearing. Go to something like a zoning group hearing [and] keep showing up. Or, even better, find a group that shares your concerns and ask what they’re doing to shift power. It could be a campaign to get someone elected, it could be a religious group, it could be a special interest group, it could be anyone. And because it’s local and because it’s tied to you and your community, you will see results that quickly impact your life. And maybe that will shoo away the encroaching apathy.
