Office Hours: What's the biggest threat to our democracy now?
And how should we respond to it?
For this week’s Wednesday discussion, I invite you to consider this big question that continues to perplex me:
Democracy is under assault from many directions, but what’s the major threat to our democracy today? (Trump Republicans? Big business? Social media? Or something else?) And how should we respond?
I’m interested in your views and am eager to answer your questions. I’ll be online from 10-11am PT/1-2pm ET.
(I pulled a few community norms from an old syllabus. Please keep them in mind:)
— Practice civility. Civility is not about agreeing. It’s about how we disagree. Let’s avoid the nastiness that has come to dominate so many of our online conversations these days.
— Assume positive intent. Try to understand what others are getting at.
— Be open-minded about dissenting views. The best way of learning anything is to talk to somebody who disagrees with you.
— Reach out. I hope that Office Hours can be dialogue not only between you and me, but also among one another.)
Talk soon!
Hello! Delighted to read so many thoughtful comments here. My hope was for this space would become a forum for interesting and engaging discussion about the most important issues of our time, and you're already fulfilling that hope. Thank you.
Let me begin with Todd's point -- which several of you share -- that inequality is at or near the root of the challenges our democracy faces today. I'm reminded of Justice Louis Brandeis's famous comment in the 1920s (when we last faced extraordinary inequalities of income and wealth) to the effect that "we can have great wealth in the hands of a few or we can have a democracy, but we can't have both." The reason then -- as it is now -- is that wealth and power are almost synonymous, so that when wealth is concentrated power tends to be as well.
I've got to head off, but before I do I want to thank all of you once again for participating and providing extremely thoughtful comments. I hope this forum continues to be useful and interesting to you.