A Mid-Week Mindshare on Democracy
Humor in dark times, Democrats’ best bet, political violence, and ‘informed patriots’
Each week, we share some of the most inspiring work of others. We may not agree with everything others say on the topic of democracy, but we’re dedicated to a plurality of voices and ideas, a broad and democratic discussion in this space. We also try to reflect on our own work since 2018 at ‘This is Democracy’ for conversations that resonate with today’s realities.
From our This is Democracy Archive: Why we need light moments in heavy times
In these heavy times, a bit of levity is a powerful tonic. In this conversation recorded in the dark early moments of the pandemic, March 2020, Jeremi and Zachary spoke about the power of humor with Deborah Grayson Riegel. author, executive coach, and former instructor at the Wharton School. Riegal is the author of Overcoming Overthinking: 36 Ways to Tame Anxiety for Work, School, and Life. People find humor in many things, but the reality is that very often tragedy plus time equals comedy, Riegle explains. “When we use humor and are exposed to humor, it decreases stress, it reduces tension, it actually is shown to inspire hope and it gives us new ways to think about old or current situations, all of which is a part of building resilience.” Reigle explains. “When you lean into humor, you are choosing that over despair even if it’s just for a moment.”
And of course there’s a poem from Zachary, The Ones Who Live, that dishes up the inspiration found in the humor MASH’s Hawkeye Pierce, Calvin and Hobbes, and others.
From others building a Democracy of Hope:
To Read: Election predictor says Democrats worse off without Biden
Should President Joe Biden stay in the race? If Democrats want to win, then without a doubt says American University Professor Allan Lichtman, a presidential historian known for his “Thirteen Keys to the Presidency” methodology that has successfully predicted nine of the past 10 presidential elections (all if you count the popular vote). In this interview with Paul Massari of Harvard University’s Griffen Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Litchtman explain why his model makes Biden the best candidate to defeat Donald Trump. Without polling or surveys, Lichtman has established 13 predictive “keys” – ranging from foreign policy success to the presence of social unrest to incumbency and more – with which he has successfully forecast the next occupant of the White House months in advance. “It's always possible, in any given year, that events could be so different that they break the pattern of history,” Lichtman says. “But the keys are very robust. Developmentally they go back to 1860—the horse and buggy days when Abe Lincoln was elected. Predictively, they go back to 1984 when Ronald Reagan was elected to a second term.”
To Listen: The madness of political violence
Since the first attempted assassination of a U.S. president in 1835, when Andrew Jackson was saved by a misfire, four U.S. presidents have been gunned down: Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy. In this discussion with Jeremi, Martin Di Caro, host of the History As It Happens podcast at the Washington Times, explores how these crimes framing the historical face of political violence of America have broad roots. That deeper story of politics by mayhem is rooted in our culture itself, reflected just days ago in attempt on the life of former President Donald Trump. “But this act of violence committed by a 20-year-old whose politics are unknown has, one hopes, puts our petty differences into perspective,” says Di Caro. Where are we headed in what Jeremi calls a “partisan militarization?” Take a listen.
To watch: Students learning to become ‘informed patriot, not blind patriots’
From crackdowns on how America’s history of slavery is taught to efforts to promote “patriotic history,” the teaching of our past is a fraught issue in schools across the country. Why? “Because we're not teaching enough about how we overcome our issues and our problems,” explains Cathy Gorn, executive director of National History Day. Gorn is interviewed by PBS Newshour’s Jeffrey Brown along with a number of the 3,000 high schools students who participated in this year’s 50th anniversary of the project. In this annual event, high schoolers bring their research of a historical subject or period in to art, drama, and other forms of creative expression. “Knowing that us as high school sophomores, as 15-year-olds can just do that and make an impact in people's lives, I think it brings me hope knowing that everyone can kind of make an impact in the world,” says sophomore Emma Hua. Adds Gorn: “We're helping to create informed citizens, informed patriots, not blind patriots.” This inspiring segment is part of the NewsHour’s Art in Action series that explores the intersection of art and democracy.
Another newsletter to keep an eye on: Demystifying the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court is, by both design and inertia, a notoriously cloistered institution. But as the Court has come to play an outsized role in most contemporary debates about public policy and in a growing number of Americans’ lives, Georgetown University Law Center Professor Stephen Vladeck seeks to make the Court more accessible to more of us with his newsletter One First. Not only does Vladeck give non-lawyers a better understanding of how the Court actually operates as an institution, he also shares some of the strange-but-true stories that have come to define the Court across its 232-year history. Vladeck recently joined Georgetown from the University of Texas School of Law. He is the author of the New York Times best seller, The Shadow Docket How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic.
What does he say about Kamala’s chances against Trump?