Malka and I recently had the honor of participating in a meeting at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The occasion was the wrapping up of Our Common Purpose (OCP), the Academy’s eight-year-long deep dive into the state of democracy in the U.S.
My biggest takeaway was “green shoots.”
Following the release of the OCP report in 2020, Civity—along with many other organizations—signed on to become an OCP Champion. Civity’s mission of building a culture of relationships of respect and empathy across difference aligns closely with OCP’s lifting up of civic culture as integral to democracy.
Reflecting the Academy’s long view (founded in 1780, the Academy has been in existence longer than the U.S. Constitution), the initiative looked to “reinventing American democracy for the 21st century.” To generate recommendations and prepare its report, OCP brought together academics and practitioners—The Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship – and held listening sessions in local communities around the country.
The OCP recommendations led with changing the structure of our government to move toward equality and voter empowerment. Here, it included specifics such as moving away from winner-take-all single-member districts to disable gerrymandering, passing a constitutional amendment to keep big money out of politics, and legislating term limits for U.S. Supreme Court Justices.
Then, the commission’s holistic emphasis on the “practice of democratic citizenship” reached to a broader range of proposals, focusing on weaving a robust civic culture. OCP highlighted the importance of connecting different parts of our national community as well as ensuring active and participatory venues for citizens to exercise their voice. OCP also lifted up the imperative of having a collective national story that is both inclusive and responsive.
Several takeaways from the recent meeting resonate especially with Civity’s work and vision:
- Formal structures of democracy need a strong cultural foundation in order to function.
- We have the capacity to take actions that strengthen civic culture.
- We live out of and into the stories we hear and repeat to ourselves and others.
The mood of the final OCP gathering was not doom and gloom—even as the nation is experiencing political and economic stress. Rather, it was one of determination and hope: Stress and turmoil can lead to learning and growth.
In particular, civic culture—far from languishing—in fact is visibly regenerating. In commission co-chair Danielle Allen’s words, “green shoots” are appearing all over.
“Green shoots.”