Building Democracy, One Community at a Time

Seattle Parks and Recreation, Big Day of Play 2019

For the last forty years, the loss of community connection has chipped away at our democracy. It will take more than an election cycle or two to rebuild what we’ve lost, but every bit of progress we make will strengthen us and weaken the autocracy. So how do we begin?

There is no democracy without community.

In this moment when our democracy faces the greatest threat since the Civil Rights era, much of the focus has been on the attacks to our electoral system. Voter suppression, gerrymandering and a corrupt campaign finance regime have all undermined a fundamental premise of a democratic society: that elected officials should be accountable to the voters. Instead, these and similar policies have protected ineffective and even malicious politicians by allowing those politicians to decide who has the power to vote them out. For that reason, the fight to protect our elections and secure the right to vote is crucial for preserving democracy. But it is not sufficient.

That’s because democracy is not just voting, it is an ongoing practice of community in which people come together to make decisions rooted in a shared sense of purpose and mutual obligation. Neighbors may not agree with or even understand each other, but the fact of being neighbors means they have no choice but to find a way forward together.

That level of connection cannot be created in the 18 months before election day and it cannot be created by strangers whose sole focus is getting a certain number of people to take a single action—vote—on a particular day. Building community requires community institutions—like labor unions, social clubs, local sports leagues, faith communities-- and community spaces—like union halls, community centers, farmers markets, and places of worship—to bring people together and allow them to discover their mutual interests and interdependence.

Decades of social and economic policies that treat all of us as merely workers and/or consumers have either weakened community institutions or limited access to them by converting them from public goods to private enterprises. Those same policies have forced each of us out of community and into an isolated struggle to protect our own mental and physical health and financial security. The result is a democracy withered by cynicism, apathy, and lack of connection and a population struggling with loneliness.

The desperate need for community has created an opportunity for autocrats around the world. To people who feel alienated and insecure, autocrats offer something that sounds like community—a tribe to belong to or a banner to claim. To people who feel not only powerless but resentful of their powerlessness, autocrats offer something that sounds like power—a movement that will restore the natural order that put them on top. To people taught to believe that financial insecurity and the struggle to pay bills is a sign of a personal failing, autocrats offer something that sounds like redemption—a scapegoat to blame, punish and/or cast out.

Ultimately, the autocrat’s offerings will fail to satisfy people because they are all a mirage. But in the meantime, everyone, including the supporters of the autocratic regime, will suffer for its failures and be victims of its violence.

For the last forty years, the loss of community connection has chipped away at our democracy. It will take more than an election cycle or two to rebuild what we’ve lost, but every bit of progress we make will strengthen us and weaken the autocracy. So how do we begin?

We must prioritize local action and communities over political hobbyism. Local work is often far less exciting, and far more taxing, than large-scale actions focused on national politics. But the federal government is a creation of state and local politics—not the other way around. We cannot impact what happens in Washington, DC if we don’t have our state and local houses in order. That means directing our efforts and resources—including funding—into state and local organizations, both those that are overtly political and those that are not. We need robust, vibrant local communities to foster representative, responsive local governments that feed into the state level and, in turn, the federal level.

Of course, this does not mean we abandon federal advocacy. Members of Congress still have an obligation to serve and uphold the rights of their constituents, and they must be held accountable when they fail. The problem is, too many of us have all but abandoned local action, and the result has been costly.

The next few years are going to be very difficult for many people. Whenever someone says “we’ve made it through worse” I always want to respond “Some of us did. Some of us did not.” But I don’t know any greater antidote to despair than connecting with our neighbors—people with names and faces who we see every day—in purposeful, tangible action. If we make it through, that will be the reason why.