Reason for Hope for Our Democracy

In a recent interview with the Kettering Foundation, Katherine Cramer was asked if there is anything – given all of the tumult in American politics – that bodes well for the state of democracy.  Ms. Cramer is faculty director of the Morgridge Center for Public Service and professor of political science at the University Wisconsin-Madison.  Her response:  “Yes, there is one thing that gives me a great deal of hope, and that is the level of concern about our democracy.  Heightened anxiety is not necessarily a good thing, but if it leads to action it is.  I have had the unusual experience of suddenly receiving a great deal of correspondence from people I do not know who are feeling the need to express their concern and looking for answers about how we heal our democracy…Most of what I am receiving is correspondence from people who are wanting to understand others in the United States and looking for ways to pressure our elected officials to put more attention on the common good, rather on us vs. them, zero-sum politics.”