‘Divisions that we have continue’ after Jan. 6, scholar says
GREENWICH — “We have barely dodged a bullet this past week.” That was the message that political scholar Norm Ornstein delivered to a Greenwich audience, saying that he had been fearful about the state of America’s democracy for some time.
The nation stood horrified after rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol last week to disrupt the electoral college certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. And as federal officials began arresting suspects in the attack, the U.S. House of Representatives made Donald Trump the first president ever to be impeached twice, blaming his comments for inciting the violence.
“There is little doubt that the kind of attack, not from foreign terrorists but from within, breached this building that should be secure at a time when all the members of Congress were there debating and the vice president was in the chair,” said Ornstein, a 50-year resident of Washington, D.C.
“Congress could have been blown up. The building could have been destroyed. We could have had no Congress and no ability to effect legitimate transfer of power,” he said. “And we know even after all of this, the divisions that we have continue.”
Ornstein spoke Wednesday night as part of a Zoom event organized by the Greenwich League of Women Voters and Greenwich Library to discuss recommendations from the Commission on the Practice of
Democratic Citizenship.
A resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, Ornstein is the author of “The Broken Branch,” which he said was about how “Congress is failing America” by moving away from its focus on the common good, and “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks,” and the revised edition retitled “It’s Even Worse Than It Was.”
All the books are about the dangers of polarization in politics and tribalization that has spread from Washington to the states.
“If you’re tribalized, you no longer look at those with different points of view as worthy Americans who may be misguided but you can find ways to work together,” Ornstein said. “Instead, you view them as the enemy trying to destroy our way of life. As I saw that I was becoming more alarmed about where the country was going.”
The commission made 31 recommendations with a goal of reinventing American democracy for the 21st century.
“There are real structural anomalies (in the government) and they’re growing,” said Ornstein, a commission member. “The framers’ model was set during a very different time in the country and as a world.”
The problems are cultural, not just structural, but “you have to start somewhere,” he said. He pressed the urgency for action because, “If you don’t deal with structural anomalies, over time you’re going to have an increasing sense of illegitimacy that grows across many areas of the society.”
The report and recommendations were released last June, and the Zoom event was put together long before the events of the past week. But they took on extra significance as Ornstein and Stephen Heintz, the commission’s co-chair, spoke to the Greenwich audience.
“We also concluded that our democracy has grown anachronistic, that it is in many ways unable to manage the kinds of 21st century challenges like the COVID pandemic or climate change that we’re facing,” Heintz said. “We decided it wasn’t sufficient to reform our democracy. It is essential that we reinvent it for the requirements of this century.”
Heintz outlined the recommendations, which cut across political institutions, civil society and civic culture. They include ending gerrymandering, curbing the influence of money in politics, making it easier to vote, investing in civic infrastructure to allow people to gather and work together locally, and reinvesting in civic education for Americans of all ages.
“We also want to create a culture of national service in our society and provide opportunities for more Americans to leave their social, economic and political bubbles and work side by side with fellow citizens who are different from them,” Heintz said.
The commission’s full report is online at www.amacad.org.
Heintz also pointed out his local connections. He is the son in law of Greenwich resident Louisa Stone, a former chair of the Planning and Zoning Commission and current member of the League of Women Voters and the Representative Town Meeting. Additionally, Heintz is a former member of Connecticut’s legislature.
“Connecticut is a place that is really deep in my heart,” he said.
Looking ahead, the commission is keeping its report alive by taking part in events across the country like the one in Greenwich, Heintz said. On Thursday, they were scheduled to meet with the Biden transition team for a briefing.
“We have been building a coalition of champion organizations to advance the individual recommendations and they are working in states and at the national level,” Heintz said.