Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space

"A community’s physical form, rather than its land uses, is its most intrinsic and enduring characteristic." [Katz, EPA] This blog focuses on place and placemaking and all that makes it work--historic preservation, urban design, transportation, asset-based community development, arts & cultural development, commercial district revitalization, tourism & destination development, and quality of life advocacy--along with doses of civic engagement and good governance watchdogging.

Tuesday, July 04, 2023

Independence Day and Civic Engagement when Democracy is in crisis

I don't have the energy to write about this in depth.  SCOTUS ("The Supreme Court Has Kicked the Door Wide Open to Jim Crow–Style Bigotry," The Nation), voter suppression, gerrymandering, authoritarian tendencies in the Republican Party, Trump and insurrection, State Legislature preemption of the ability of local government to act ("States Are Silencing the Will of Millions of Voters," New York Times), etc.

Signing of the Declaration of Independence

Yes, to have democracy you need to practice it.  And I believe our civic institutions need to seize on every opportunity to promote substantive civic engagement.  Which isn't easy, is time consuming, is subject to blowback (e.g., the conservative push against school boards) etc.

Margaret Sullivan's column in the Guardian, "On the Fourth of July, a few reasons to feel encouraged about US democracy," quotes a law professor, Asha Rangappa from Yale:

"Get engaged locally,” urged Yale University’s Asha Rangappa told me recently when I interviewed the former FBI agent for my podcast, American Crisis: Can Journalism Save Democracy? That could mean runing for office, signing up to be a poll worker, volunteering at school, participating in the arts. 

Rangappa wants more Americans to “cultivate the habits of democracy”. Those habits are developed when people leave their social-media echo chambers, get out into their communities, and simply talk to each other.

Yep.

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7 Comments:

At 9:09 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Our two-party political system isn’t working. The fix? More parties.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/07/05/more-political-parties-democracy/

 
At 12:41 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/books/a-leading-expert-on-far-right-extremists-explains-how-america-fell-into-the-age-of-insurrection

6/29/2023

 
At 10:36 AM, Anonymous charlie said...

It's very hard for people to accept the small victories that democratic process can bring you. Never worth the time or effort.

Exit or voice. America is a vast sorting engine, and it is much easier for 85% of the population to move to some more agreeable than deal with the "voice" issue.

 
At 11:55 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Well there's big democracy and little (local) democracy. And yeah it's a pita to deal with trying to maintain or improve your community. Especially because we don't make it convenient to participate and you have to learn how to do it and we don't have good systems for teaching that either.

Plus, discourse can be so base. Eg on Nextdoor, people calling the Salt Lake City mayor a "whore."

And it's not just small victories, it's how long it can take. Eg people saying Biden hasn't done this or that. Can you imagine getting the federal government to turn on a dime.

I mentioned how Tempe, Long Beach, and Arlington are leaders on sustainable mobility. That's a big accomplishment. Or Oklahoma City and MAP. Seattle's various levies which provide extra $ to issue areas people care about. Or LA County’s Measure R for more money to build transit faster.

That takes leadership and vision. I think there's definitely not enough of either to go around.

 
At 9:33 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Preemption isn't solely a matter of Republican legislatures and blue cities.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/08/opinion/jim-braude-rent-control-boston-legislature/

 
At 1:54 PM, Anonymous Peel HR said...

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