The work of reclaiming our civic life

From The Work Ahead published November 1, 2024:

Completely independent of partisanship or policy, a healthy, vibrant democratic culture — one animated by a deep commitment to self-determination, self-government, pluralism, and civic duty — would reject Trump as a candidate much less select him as its leader.

In a democracy, elections are just the mechanism by which we choose leadership and share power. The real work of serving each other, of ensuring justice, of working to share our resources and ensure everyone thrives happens after election day. And in the case of the work we must do to reshape and strengthen our democracy, never has that been more true. Defeating Trump isn't the end of the work of defending democracy: it is the necessary beginning. We must breathe new life into the foundational democratic cultural principles instead of indulging in confirmation bias and declaration culture. We must recommit to and prioritize these damaged norms in our political processes over our need to win and our obsession with our opponents’ losing. We must redesign our institutions to focus on service and delivery over performative posturing and maintaining rather than using power. We must make our democracy democratic and joyous. This work is the path toward a real, broad, vibrant, creative democracy capable of adaptive, future-oriented ideas and meeting the challenges and opportunities in front of us.