by jpitney | Feb 11, 2023 | Civility, Deliberation, Polarization
Robert Alexander at RealClearPolitics: In order to move beyond this “polarization pandemic,” we must start with civility. Our politicians must set a better example for all of us. Tolerance is a key feature of healthy democracies and is most likely to prevail when...
by jpitney | Oct 23, 2022 | Congress, Deliberation
Yuval Levin at CNN: There is no silver bullet for the problems confronting our democracy, but it is crucial to begin by recognizing that the political arena is intended to be a venue for disagreement and contention. Our political system now feels dysfunctional – not...
by jpitney | Sep 23, 2022 | Deliberation, Higher Education
Samuel Abrams at AEI: Fire’s 2022-23 College Free Speech Rankings samples the views of almost 45,000 currently enrolled students at more than 200 American colleges and universities, the largest study of its kind to date. Like earlier iterations, it shows that...
by jpitney | Aug 23, 2022 | Civility, Deliberation, Polarization
Daniel Stid: Many civil society groups are responding to our fraught times by building bridges between citizens and groups that see the world differently and enabling them to engage in constructive dialogue. Given all the factors accelerating tribalism, depolarization...
by jpitney | Jul 31, 2022 | Congress, Debate, Deliberation, Senate
Trent Lott and Tom Daschle at The Hill: First, the Senate should return to old norms for considering legislation. Filibusters, which date back to America’s earliest days, grew more common in the 19th and 20th centuries, prompting the Senate to adopt rules to end...
by jpitney | Jul 11, 2022 | Bipartisanship, Congress, Deliberation, Public Opinion
Carl Hulse at The New York Times: “There is strong evidence that [lawmakers] actually don’t even know the views of their constituents,” said Steven Kull, a psychologist who heads the Program for Public Consultation at the University of Maryland’s School of Public...
