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Ethan Demme

Thoughts and Policy for Building a Better Pennsylvania

  • Education Reform
  • Parental Engagement
  • Public Policy
  • Lifelong Learning
  • Lancaster County
  • Education Reform
  • Parental Engagement
  • Public Policy
  • Lifelong Learning
  • Lancaster County
  • Education Reform
  • Parental Engagement
  • Public Policy
  • Lifelong Learning
  • Lancaster County

civic engagement

Reconnecting Democracy: #LongRead

October 5, 2018

Is Democracy Dying?

Democracy has developed into a cornerstone of Western Civilization, providing the basis for our political systems, our views of human rights, and the way in which we organize our businesses, our schools, and our homes in society. A paper published in The Journal of Democracy shares global research that indicates that dedication to and support of democracy is beginning to wane — even in the West. The report shows, for example, that in the United States, less than one-third of millennials—defined as people born since 1980— say that democracy is an essential factor for them for choosing where they would want to live. ” Worse still, the paper reports that there is growing opposition among young people to democracy. “In 2011, 24 percent of U.S. millennials (then in their late teens or early twenties) considered democracy to be a “bad” or “very bad” way of running the country. Although this trend was somewhat more moderate in Europe, it was nonetheless significant: In 2011, 13 percent of European youth (aged 16 to 24) expressed such a view, up from 8 percent among the same age group in the mid-1990s.”

In lieu of democracy, more and more Westerners are considering authoritarianism as recourse to the ills of civil society. “35 percent of wealthy young Americans say it would be “a ‘good’ thing for the army to take over” the nation.  The paper summarizes that young people have become “more cynical about the value of democracy as a political system, less hopeful that anything they do might influence public policy, and more willing to express support for authoritarian alternatives.”

Generational Politics

One reason youth might be less committed to democracy is that they are not participating in democracy as much as they used to. Jon Grinspan, writing for The Atlantic, has a startling thesis regarding why youth are less politically engaged than before. Our youth are increasingly disengaged in the political processes and institutions that help shape civic society, he says, precisely because we have separated them as a demographic from older generations. In an article entitled “How ‘Millennials’ Ruined Democracy” (millennials designating the term and all it stands for, not the actual people), Grinspan recalls how historically, political engagement in the 19th century was so high because youth were not siphoned off from older siblings, parents, and other local adults in their formation.

Grinspan writes that “America’s institutions forced generations to mingle. In one-room schoolhouses, 8-year-old boys and 14-year-old girls overheard 20-something students hollering partisan slogans. Such mixing wrote an Illinois schoolteacher in 1860, proved “the genius of a republican government in which every member, male and female, large or small, feels a keen, personal interest.” Grinspan also notes that cultivation of engaged citizenry began at home. He writes of how “Susan Bradford, a 14-year-old Florida belle, filled her diary with tales of the multi-generational debates that shook her family’s dinner table in the 1860 election. Even her 9-year-old cousin Mattie, a budding young Whig, “shakes her golden curls and turns up her pretty little nose” in protest when her relatives sang Democratic songs.”

At the turn of the century, generations began to be divided and young people increasingly found companionship primarily circles of their peers. Grinspan notes that “By 1909, the reformer Jane Addams worried that democracy “no longer stirs the blood of the American youth.” She argued that “never before have the pleasures of the young and mature become so definitely separated,” stifling the sense of a shared interest in public life.” This trend continued and has followed us into our 21st-century context: consider, for example, how major marketing and advertising segments by age rather than marketing to the whole family as it used to do. Grinspan says the problem with generationally-divided politics is that “young people grow up.” He writes:

“This is what makes winning their votes so difficult, and so unlike appealing to other demographics. There is little time to build networks, develop ideologies, or select leaders. With so much turnover, once a young generation gets organized politically, it’s not young anymore.”

And once that generation, which organized itself politically, grows up, it is immediately out-of-touch and not in connection with the next generation which attempts to mobilize, and on and on this process goes.

Grinspan notes that “generations do play an important role in American politics, giving diverse groups something to unite around. But that strength is also a weakness: uniting a generation often means isolating it, bottling up its knowledge and excitement. In politics, and in the rest of life, age mixing has a power that is often neglected in this segmented, modern world—a power that once made schoolyards brawls and dinner-table debates the centerpieces of American democracy.” In light of this, he advises us to “forget generations” and to “stop chattering about millennials” because “blurring those age-based divisions will only help make American democracy more sustainable.”

Reviving Democracy Through Parental Engagement

In Grinspan article for The Atlantic, he notes how the home used to be an incubator for democratic values. I think he’s right — civic engagement begins at home with parental engagement. In 2014, I wrote a series of blog posts on parental engagement in civic engagement. My first post shares research on why voting is important (and effective), particularly in local elections and in the second post, I share memories about going to vote with my parents, which were formative experiences for me. The third post examines the 2008 election of President Obama and, in keeping with Grinspan’s thesis, shares 2010 findings from Pew Research on how “the political enthusiasms of Millennials have since cooled – Obama and his message of change, for the Democratic Party and, quite possibly, for politics itself. Finally, in my fourth post, I discuss Tocqueville’s vision for civic life.

I staunchly believe as Tocqueville stated that “municipal institutions constitute the strength of free nations. Town meetings are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they bring it within the people’s reach, they teach men how to use and how to enjoy it. A nation may establish a free government, but without municipal institutions it cannot have the spirit of liberty.” – (Chapter V) Here are three quick tips for parents in nurturing the kind of civic engagement that can teach the next generation to cherish democracy and work within democracy for the common good.

1. True and lasting change begins slowly, often imperceptibly, and on a very small level. If you focus on being a supportive spouse, an engaged parent, a dependable worker, and an upstanding member of the community, you’ll be sending ripples through the pond and will be helping make America a better place.

2. Seize opportunities to be active and engaged: vote in local, not just presidential, elections; participate in community food and clothing drives; find out how you can get involved mentoring youth through programs like Big Brother Big Sister.

3. Encourage your children to be active in their community. Help them learn to be good leaders and provide opportunities for them to be involved in community service. Consider things like volunteer work, community theater, church or school outreach projects, etc.

Conclusion

Ronald Reagan once said that freedom is only a generation away from extinction.  He understood that sustaining democracy is a continual work and that our civic society is both precious and fragile. Saving democracy isn’t the sole task of one man or one woman but it is a task that we all share. Healing the wounds of our civil society begins on the local level in the communities in which we live and work. Most importantly, learning how to sustain our civic project begins with the family and in the home.

Filed Under: Parental Engagement, Public Policy Tagged With: civic engagement, family, politics

Seeking the Good of The City

July 24, 2016

City of Charlotte

In May of this year, Montgomery County, one of the largest and wealthiest suburbs in DC, held a forum on urban development. Paul Grenier, writing for The American Conservative, commented on what he saw as a divide in the way the word “development” was being used. On the one side, council member Marc Elrich and economist Michael Shuman used the word development to refer to the good of the city. Grenier explains that “They asked qualitative questions about how to create as good a city as possible, and how to make the economy serve the interests of that good.” On the other side were the well-paid consultants who focused on “growth” and fixated on the development of the economy.

Grenier notes that this divide represents the difference between classical thought and modern thought. Whereas classical thought emphasizes the particularities of local communities and emphasizes the shared pursuit of citizens for the common good, modern thought strips away the particular quirks of particular places and instead emphasizes the universality of the market.

Council member Elrich began the forum by asking “what is the best kind of city.” Such a question likely conjures up thoughts of the local coffee shops and the diner where everyone knows your name and the older buildings with a strong sense of history. Elrich refers to “small spaces” which I take to mean those places that provide a sense of intimacy and locality. If development means seeking the good of the city, not just its growth, then perhaps creating (or more often, preserving) these small spaces might be just as important as bringing in big corporations with the hope of stimulating the economy and driving growth.

While small spaces often create jobs and generate market growth, participation in the big, global market can generate even greater profit. But is that really what matters? Can the good of the city really only be understood materialistically? Grenier, in parsing through this difference of thought between classical and modern thought writes:

Modern politics has no well-defined location, not any more than the global marketplace has a location. Classical politics, by contrast, takes place in the city. The city is what classical politics is about.

From the perspective of classical political thought, the city is the optimal scale for organizing political life because it is a scale that is sufficiently complex to allow for human flourishing, but not so huge that the crucial questions can’t be addressed by means of reasoned debate. Scales larger than that—such as the national or the global scale—are so vastly complex that such a conversation can no longer be concrete and to a purpose.

Michael Shuman believes that truly good economic development consists of applying four rules:

  • Maximize the percent of local industry and trade that is locally owned.
  • Emphasize local self-reliance, not as a means of becoming disengaged from the wider (including global) economy, but so as to engage with it from a position of strength.
  • Maintain high labor and environmental standards.
  • Create, or maintain, a social, institutional and investment framework that fosters a sort of local entrepreneurial eco-system.

Economic growth is important but it is not the only or even the most important rubric for measuring the flourishing of a city. More important than mere economic growth is the ability for small spaces to give room for tightly knit communities to have the kinds of conversations about justice, goodness, and beauty that grow the human spirit and cultivate friendships.

Filed Under: Public Policy Tagged With: civic engagement, conservative, development, public policy

Meet Me in St. Louis at the Home Educators Expo

March 16, 2015

Meet Me in St. Louis poster
Meet Me in St. Louis poster

This weekend, March 19-20 I will be speaking at the Greater St. Louis Area Home Educators Expo. Below are the four talks I will be giving along with a description of each. Visit their website to see the times and locations for each talk. I look forward to seeing you there.

Dreaming Dangerously: Finding Your Life Dream and Chasing It
It’s a great big world out there and as a young adult, you’re trying to find your way. You need to make a living but you also want a life. You have some idea of what you like to do but how does that translate to find a job? And what about those scary words, “career,” “vocation,” “calling?” Relax. Breathe. In this talk, I share a mix of anecdotes and practical tips designed to provide young adults with the confidence and starting foundation they need to discover and pursue their life dream.

Trust Parents: Why Engaged Parents are Essential in Building Lifelong Learners
At the heart of this talk is the simple truth that parents are the key to a successful education. The secret? You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to help your child succeed. Drawing on a rich set of research, various social sciences studies, and Ethan’s homeschooling story “from coonskin cap to college graduate,” this talk provides a compelling argument for the importance (and power) of trusting parents. Learn practical tips for parental engagement and be encouraged by the evidence that says, “parents you can do it and you can do it well.”

Embrace Awkward: How Awkward Online Parents Can Save the World
Facebook, bullies, and sexts, oh my! Talking with kids about using the internet is about as awkward as talking to them about the birds and the bees. Come learn why, when it comes to teaching digital citizenship to kids, parents matter more and can have a greater impact than peers or educators. Let’s make it easier for parents to be parents online and encourage them to embrace the awkwardness of teaching kids about the digital birds and bees.

Show Up Politics: Getting Involved in the Political Process
Growing up, my parents would take me and my brothers along with them when they voted. I remember the old-fashioned lever voting machines in the booths. Seeing my parents engaged in the political process played a very significant role in my life. Now, all these years later, I have put those acquired values to work, serving my local community in many roles, most recently as a township supervisor. In this talk, I draw from my experiences to provide inspiration and practical tips for civic engagement. You and your whole family can make a difference in your local community; learn why local politics matters and why showing up is the most important step.

 

 

Filed Under: Parental Engagement, Public Policy Tagged With: civic engagement, digital citizenship, homeschool, parental engagement

Parental Engagement Civic Engagement Series

November 15, 2014

vo

I recently completed a new series of blog posts on Parental Engagement and civic engagement. You can read the entire series over at the Demme Learning Blog.

Watch the video overview

Part 1 – Why You Should Vote

In the 2012 presidential election, only 57% of the eligible adult population voted. To put it another way, a little less than half of the adults in the United States didn’t vote to decide who should be the leader of our country. Of course, statistical research also shows that there is a large amount of people who only vote in presidential elections and not in local, state, and even federal congressional elections. One of the most common reasons cited for not voting is that people believe their vote doesn’t really matter anyway.

Part 2 – Voting With My Parents

My parents are regular voters. When I was growing up, my parents would take me and my brothers along with them when they voted. I remember the old-fashioned lever voting machines in the booths. Going with my parents to vote and seeing them engaged in the political process played a very significant role in my life. I learned from an early age that it is a responsibility and not just an opportunity to help choose our leaders.

Part 3 – Obama, Millennials, and the 2008 Election

In 2008, a multitude of young people became actively engaged in the presidential election. Barack Obama leveraged the incredible power of social media to reach out directly to the voters and this in turn started trends like the micro campaign donations that played a part in funding his campaign. More importantly than the funding of the campaign itself, those micro donations signaled that people — the millennial generation in particular — felt connected and empowered.

Part 4 – Tocqueville on Civic Life

When the Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville visited America in 1831, he was impressed with the level of civic engagement he saw among the American people. In his book, Democracy in America, Tocqueville often mentions his respect for the political activeness of the average American citizen. Tocqueville understood that America is designed to work best when her citizens are involved on the community level.

Filed Under: Parental Engagement Tagged With: civic engagement, parental engagement

Vote on November 4th

November 3, 2014

I recently wrote a series of blog posts on the importance of voting and the role of parents in teaching civic engagement which you can see over at the Demme Learning Blog. I firmly believe that in order to build a stronger civil society, parents need to take a more active role in passing on the civic value of voting to their kids.

Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting. -President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Use this widget from the Voter Information Project to find out where you can vote. So get informed, get out to vote and take your kids along.

Filed Under: Parental Engagement Tagged With: civic engagement, elections, vote

  • Education Reform
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  • Lifelong Learning
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