COLUMN: The Skills of Citizenship

From Chris Iorillo's "The Buck Stops Now," Fall '95 From Chris Iorillo's "The Buck Stops Now," Fall '95In 1961, President Kennedy charged Americans to, "ask what you can do for your country." In a decade wrought with turbulence and violence, the younger generation of Americans responded to the President's challenge with a desire to change the world and a belief that they truly could. Thirty years later, what does democracy mean to our generation? The majority of twenty-something Americans have grown disenchanted with the American political system. While the United States relishes its history as the world's oldest democracy, we currently have the lowest voter participation rate in 30 years. The idealistic faith in democracy of the 60's has given way to irresponsible individualism as people withdraw from political participation. But when we begin to view democracy as a spectator sport, our government stops being a democracy. It is difficult to discredit this apathetic trend given the plateful of problems with which we have to deal. A tremendous fiscal debt, the breakdown of the family, pollution, the collapse of public education and ethnic and racial tensions are a few of the albatross slung around our necks. As apocalyptic as this may seem, there is quite a bit of hope in us -- the so-called "repair generation." In the face of this myriad of problems, it is essential that we rediscover the Kennedy "vigah" of youth and apply it to the democratic process which only frustrates us right now. While idealism is often derided as foolish and passZ, perhaps what the future needs is a renewed commitment to idealism. A commitment to the idea that the burden cannot be passed on again. As French students wrote on the walls of the Sorbonne in the 60's, "Demand the impossible. We will settle for nothing less." But the success of participatory democracy requires more than simply heading to the polls and paying taxes. Essential to its prosperity is the understanding that democracy is more than the right to pursue one's own self-interest -- inherent to the process is the obligation to give something back. There is a growing crowd which suggests this sense of duty has been lost. As Harvard professor Robert Putnam writes, "The vibrancy of American civil society has notably declined." A nation of communities is becoming a nation of individuals as the symbols of America -- town meetings, barn raisings, mutual aid societies and volunteer fire departments -- become relics of history. Less people seem to understand that citizenship has responsibilities, but civic life can be an incredibly powerful tool of social and political reform. Martin Luther King used the concept to break the bonds of segregation in the American South. And by studying our political heritage, immigrants learn how to enjoy the benefits of American citizenship, and what they must give in return. A commitment to civic duty crosses lines of political party, race, gender, generation and profession. Participatory democracy means working in our children's schools, coaching soccer leagues, joining the P.T.A., helping the Red Cross or even playing in a bowling league. All of these activities represent organization at the grass roots level which will create institutions that can survive the chaos of healing our national problems. But the skills of citizenship are not innate and are no longer being taught or passed on. The principles of democracy are not enigmatic; they must be learned. But civics courses rarely exist and few high school, and perhaps even college, students would pass an exam on the basics of government. A return of the citizenship schools of the 60's is sorely needed to teach us how to be Americans. The accomplishments of last year's recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, should serve as a beacon to us all. Praised as having, "an unusually profound sense of responsibility to improve the lives of their fellow men and women, to improve the future for our children, and to embody the best of what we mean by the term American citizen," they have shown how to combine righteous individual goals and fervent idealism with the pursuit of the good of the common man. All this in order to fulfill the participatory obligations of democracy and citizenship. At Penn, this opportunity for the future is often lost to the belief that there are only two options after gradua tion: graduate school or Wall Street. While not everyone can be expected to commit themselves to a life of public service, some type of service must be incorporated into each of our careers. Robert Sargent Shriver, a leader of the Peace Corps, Head Start, Special Olympics and National Service said it best, "Serve, serve, serve?because in the end it will be the servants who save us all." Are we politically impotent by our own choosing? Hopefully not. As Congressional behavior comes to resemble the trash-talking of a boxing match rather than pragmatic debate, it is our turn to rediscover optimism and make democracy work in America again. Fresh out of college, Robert Kennedy was described as, "An impatient youth. Impatient to right the wrongs." There are plenty of "wrongs" facing our generation. The only question is whether we will rise to rectify them.