Thick Democracy

While many of Obama's supporters were attracted to his candidacy because of his age, his policies, his race, or even his "coolness," I supported him mainly because of his philosophy.  It's very important to me that we have a leader who recognizes that not everything about politics is election-based.  Part of this is simple:  an election-crazed democracy -- a thin democracy -- risks pushing the government to govern for themselves, not the common good.  We saw this over the last couple decades, with either Congress, the President, or both politicizing the government to the point that everything is done with electoral success in mind.  I'm excited because Obama stands for a "thick" democracy -- one predicated on advancing the public good, while informing Americans that it's partly their responsibility to do much of the heavy lifting.

Some of that heavy lifting requires civic knowledge, which we're sadly missing in today's society.  This blog's rebirth will be focusing on this gap between voting for change and not knowing literally how the country is run.  I'll be writing about the methods leading activists and educators use to fuse education with a passion for civics and helping others.  I'll also be writing about the need to take advantage of Millennials, the generation with so much to offer in the civic realm, in order to thicken our democracy.

The media seems to be perpetually worried about hope turning into hype.  But what they don't realize is that Obama's message relies on his supporters to join in, doing the work alongside their president.  To vote is just one aspect of democracy.  Obama's calling on us to be more than just voters.  He's calling on us all to be citizens who vote, who campaign, who attend civic meetings, who serve others, and who stay well-informed.  It's not too much to ask.