Thread by @trygveolson

Faith or Fear: Democracy is a Choice We Each Make

We often think of democracy as a set of rules spelled out in documents—the significant papers like the Constitution, Laws books, or Publications of Rules and Regulations.

Perhaps when you think about democracy, the top of mind are its institutions, the norms by which it operates, or elections determining who holds power.

Most times, democracy might be about the rights all hold in a democratic society–freedom of the press, due process, the right to free speech or assembly.

Yet, ultimately, each of these pillars of our democracy is a human endeavor. They require people (both inside and outside of government) to choose to uphold them.

Personally, when working with those in non-democratic places, one of the first things I needed to convey was an understanding democracy (or lack thereof) is created or fails one mind and citizen at a time.

According to the UNC, we make 35,000 choices a day. Most of these choices (95% according to Psychology Today) are made unconsciously. Most of the time, I guess most of us make choices about politics (and those about democracy) with little thinking.

science.unctv.org/content/report…

Now, I get this is perhaps an assumption that will bring some pushback. Those reading are taking the time to be informed – you are on Twitter. Yet, you are choosing to do so because a follower of mine (or maybe an algorithm) has reposted, leading me to you.

Most decisions we make about the issues faced as a nation are, in fact, reflexive. They are shaped by what we see and hear (as are most conscious and unconscious decisions).

We believe we have formed a set of values with our politics, but often they are just assumptions – based on faith in each other or fear of one another.

This past week we saw lots of fear in opinions & actions. Unfortunately, fear is a norm many have chosen in our nation – destroying the foundations upon which we build our democracy.

Here is an example made by a single American impact all. This incident comes from Austin, TX, where police arrested a man who threw a Molotov cocktail into the Travis County Democrat Party HQ. He "was not happy with the current political climate."

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1444060178765291525?s=20

Think about this choice. Nothing is rational, beyond fearing what is happening in our country. There is no thought of consequences -- the meaning individually or how others will be affected —both people in the building, but equally those on the other side of the political divide.

After the Capitol Riot, YouGov conducted a survey that suggested 66% of Republicans in southern states want to secede from the US. Now, there are two things with this which are essential.

First, such polling questions are not about an issue that people have likely thought much about – they gauge a reaction more than thought through positions.

The second is such a reflexive answer is crazy given what happened the last time those in the south tried and leave the US. It ended horribly - over 750,000 people died, which today would be almost 7,000,000.

I came across the YouGov survey because a new poll by the UVA came out this week.

businessinsider.com/majority-of-tr…

The headlines focused on similar findings on Americans supporting their states seceding. An admission over eight months after 1.6 major divisions in the country are not diminishing in any way -- in fact, they might be getting worse.

In this survey, 52% of Trump voters somewhat/strongly agree with favoring succession, while 41% of Biden voters feel this way on the question. The idea states would secede from the US is far-fetched.

What is more troubling in the survey is the other questions about fear and trust and the actions people on both sides now suggest they might support.

These kinds of responses are choices by far too many Americans to embrace fear reflexively. But, unfortunately, we are choosing this path. The documents, institutions, norms, & foundations of democracy can not withstand if we continue making such decisions out of fear.

I will end this thread with an article I came across years ago from New Scientist about making better choices (unsurprisingly, like all of you, I sometimes have made dumb choices and try to do better through finding answers).

newscientist.com/article/mg1942…

While the article isn't about democracy, the 10 ways to make better decisions is appliable to all of us as it relates to our democracy. In the next 1,206 days until the next presidential inauguration, we will make many daily choices (both small & big) relating to our democracy.

Hopefully, as individuals and thus collectively as a nation, we can improve our decision-making process. However, if we fail as individuals, and collectively, we are headed for disaster.

As Americans, our democracy depends on the decisions we make, both in terms of what we do, but also in how we try to persuade others in their choices. Each of us must constantly remind ourselves of both realities. The fate of our democracy depends only upon the choices we make.