After a week of urgent warnings about the state of American democracy, there were several requests in the What Matters inbox for something more useful than a warning.What’s the average citizen supposed to do about it?I asked a politician, an activist and a professor who studies democracy. And there were some interesting thoughts from Karl Rove, too.
Barbara Walter is a professor at the University of California San Diego and has a new book out, “How Civil Wars Start and How to Stop Them.”
She’s among those who have warned the country’s democracy is in a dangerous place.When I asked her what everyday Americans could do to protect democracy, she sent back a thoughtful and lengthy email, which I’ll boil down to a few key points.
Vote. Even in presidential elections, there are millions of Americans not taking part in the democratic process. The share of nonvoters is even larger in midterm elections, and larger still at the local level.”If they voted it would perhaps change the makeup of Congress and break the minority’s hold on power in many […]
Good article, although I think many of us are disillusioned after Trump’s near coup. The Women’s March, the March for the Environment, and the anti Gun Marches on Washington brought out stunning numbers of people, and yet Trump and his Congress went right on doing what they wanted to do. The Women’s March was worldwide and it was mind boggling all the people that turned out – 800,000 in Los Angeles alone. Yet look at the repressive legislation that is now happening. I hope that Biden’s administration can heal some of this.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/21/world/womens-march-pictures.html
Thanks Stephan, really good article.