On February 25th, Danielle Allen came in to discuss the future of our democracy and how to get it back on track. Allen is the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University and director of its Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethic. Within her discussion, Allen focused on the need to further educate the nation on political issues and unite people in a civilized manner.
Allen addresses the definition of democracy. Democracy is all about giving people a voice and allowing everyone to participate. Likewise, it should empower citizens as free and equal individuals. More recently, there has been a failed generational succession of political participation. The lack of political participation can be attributed to the decrease in civic education. Because people are not exposed to these issues and cannot form their own beliefs they are not nearly as motivated to participate.
In order to combat these issues, Allen advocates for an increase in civic education. People need to be better informed of these issues. More specifically, Allen focuses on the need for civic education within the home. Civic strength within the home is the most effective way to foster civic strength internationally. The home is where many beliefs are often spawned, so if one lives in an environment surrounded by political participation, they will most likely follow in the footsteps of their family. Although, this does not discount the civic education outside the home either. Allen also expresses the importance of political education outside the home. Gaining insight outside your own opens your mind to the bigger picture, understanding various perspectives on issues.
Allen also dives into polarization within the U.S. as a detriment to political participation. Rather than becoming more educated on issues and forming their own opinion, people have been blindly following political parties. This cause the people that are participating to act without a full knowledge of certain issues. This results in participation that is not as civilized as participation from an empathetical viewpoint. This polarization has also turned off a lot of younger citizens, causing them to participate less because they do not want to be apart of this rivalry. In terms of within the government, this polarization has caused a pause in compromise and decision making. In 2013, there was a measly 9% approval rate within congress. This was so low because of political polarization, demonstrating how broken our democracy is.
To combat this political polarization, Allen suggests the implementation of rank choice voting. This is where candidates are ranked by preference during a vote rather than picking only on candidate. When tallying up all the votes, the one ranked highest would win. This would end up encouraging candidates to focus on their own campaign and eliminate negative campaigning. The elimination of negative campaigning would decrease the hardcore competition that fosters political polarization.
Overall, Allen describes that our democracy has the potential to be outstanding, but its current state is a bit detrimental. The future of our democracy can be good, but we just have to put the effort in to amend it. Just like any other issue, the correction starts by identifying and becoming educated on the issue. Likewise, it is important that we further civic education to get people more informed and encouraged to participate. Following this furthered education would come a decrease in polarization, which would ultimate rebuild our democracy to a much better form.
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