by jpitney | Jan 20, 2022 | Congress, House of Representatives, Senate, Violence
Jim Saksa at Roll Call: CQ Roll Call asked every member of Congress whether they had received a death threat since 2020. Of the 147 who responded, 110 — or about 75 percent — said yes. While more Democrats replied to our inquiry than Republicans, 95 to 52, death...
by jpitney | Jan 19, 2022 | Mass Media, Polarization
Steven W. Webster, Elizabeth C. Connors, and Betsy Sinclair have written a study titled “The Social Consequences of Political Anger.” The abstract: A functioning democracy relies on social interactions between people who disagree—including listening to...
by jpitney | Jan 19, 2022 | Russia, Ukraine
As Ukraine faces an existential threat from Russia, this 2014 recruiting video is all too timely.
by jpitney | Jan 17, 2022 | civic virtue, Civil Rights, Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Patriotism, Religion
The “I Have a Dream” speech contains many references and allusions to key ideas, sites, and documents of American civic culture. The text below contains relevant links in red. Many passages in the speech refer or allude to Bible verses, spiritual songs,...
by jpitney | Jan 17, 2022 | Civil Rights
Letter from a Birmingham Jail: Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But...
by jpitney | Jan 16, 2022 | civic virtue, Public Service, Volunteering
Jeffrey M. Jones at Gallup: Eighty-one percent of Americans say they donated money to a religious or other charitable organization in the past year, and 56% volunteered time to such an organization. After dipping in April 2020 during the early stages of the...
by jpitney | Jan 15, 2022 | Civic Education, civic virtue
Gary Schmitt at AEI: A recent Washington Post poll has some 34 percent of U.S. adults saying that “violent action” against the government is “sometimes justified.” If more than a third of “adults” are willing to hold such a view, it is not difficult to imagine how an...
by jpitney | Jan 14, 2022 | Civic Education, Misinformation
Mark Walsh at Education Week: Students asserting the right to an adequate civics education have lost their appeal of a federal court ruling that dismissed their suit accusing the state of Rhode Island of failing to prepare them for the duties of citizenship. Like the...
by jpitney | Jan 13, 2022 | Polarization, Violence
Political scientist Jay Ulfelder at The Harvard Gazette: What really worries me is we absolutely have seen the radicalization of one of the major political parties in the U.S., both in terms of the political ideas it’s putting forward, but also, its embrace of...
by jpitney | Jan 12, 2022 | Congress, Public Service, Staff, Youth
Layla Zaidane at The Fulcrum: Millennials are sweeping into public office: From 2018 to 2020, the United States saw a 266 percent increase in young people running for Congress. In 2021, young people made history with candidates like Nadarius Clark, the youngest...
