An Angry America: How Did We Get to This Point?
Setup
Much has been written about the elections this year – about the candidates, their policies, their personalities. But there is another story of equal importance: about us. America rests on a structure of interlocking systems – an education system that would ideally produce a citizenry knowledgeable about civics and skilled at thinking critically about what they’re seeing and hearing; a free press that sheds light instead of heat; an economic system that seems fair and a justice system that seems just, a political system that produces qualified and appealing candidates. At its root, America is about its values, its priorities, its commitments, its culture, and whether our systems meet the obligations those goals demand. So how have we gotten to this point with its anger and discontents? What has failed? That’s the question with which this panel is challenged.
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