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Voting isn’t the most important part of democracy. What matters far more is what precedes the vote—ideally, an exchange of ideas, conducted in an atmosphere of mutual respect. Unfortunately, our political era is marked more by slogans and applause lines than a serious effort to engage in thoughtful deliberation. Complex times demand complex conversations, but in the age of the bumper sticker and the tweet, ours are getting simpler and simpler. Social scientists worry, rightly, about the ways in which technology enables us to live in echo chambers, where we confront only those who agree with us. What we spend less time thinking about is how the technologies themselves, no matter what their content, often make it hard for us to cope with complexity. Yale professor Stephen Carter argues that the last best hope for restoring a healthy discourse relies on a simple and age old tool: books.
- 2016 Festival
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USA
The US House of Representatives will vote later this month on whether to admit Washington, DC as the 51st state. The mayor of DC talks about the vote.
Voting rights are under assault in America. More than 250 bills that would restrict access to voting are pending in 43 states.
COVID-19 has hindered progress in gender equity as women have left the workforce to care for children. But 2020 also held record high numbers of women running for office & hol...
In a time of heightened distrust, how can media outlets reclaim the public’s confidence? We hear from a longtime journalist.
The idea of unity is a compassionate, hopeful aspiration for a country ravaged by a global pandemic, racial injustice, economic downturn and mob violence.
Two weeks before the first woman of color became Vice President, an angry mob that included members of the white supremacist group Proud Boys, stormed the US Capitol. As Ibram...
Biden believes deeply that actions like the January 6th violence at the Capitol are not who we want to be as a country, says Evan Osnos, author of a Biden biography.
As the nation reels from the attack on the Capitol, we look for ideas that will move us forward.
Peggy Clark asks Dan Glickman to reflect on this past year and to share what he expects from our country under President-elect Joe Biden’s leadership.
“We are not in a rush to pull people back into the workplace,” says Rob Falzon