Photo illustration by John Lyman

Will We Forget What our Democracy is Supposed to Look Like?

Since President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump debated on June 27, social media has been inundated with content mocking the state of American politics. Are these two candidates really the best the country has to offer? News Nation anchor Chris Cuomo called the debate an embarrassment. It’s a race to the bottom. There was a time when people could healthily disagree, come to a consensus, and treat each other with dignity and respect. But our generation – the newest voting bloc – barely remembers that.

Amidst the memes, a video juxtaposing the two candidates’ performances with the 2012 debate between President Barack Obama and then-Governor Mitt Romney circulated. In their opening statements, Obama and Romney joked with each other, thanked the moderator and venue for hosting them, and outlined clear-cut policies—promoting themselves and explaining why they were the best candidate for the job, not why their opponent was the worst.

We are old enough to remember that race. We remember how it collectively impacted our understanding of our democracy despite our different backgrounds and contexts.

Ian’s grandfather was a Holocaust survivor. His experience fostered a commitment to freedom of thought and expression that persists throughout his family. Ian was always encouraged to think for himself and challenge his beliefs, a freedom that allowed him to form his political identity. The current political climate – one with little respect for differing opinions – conflicts with his values.

Ian remembers his kindergarten teacher holding a mock election in 2012. He and his classmates placed string medallions around their necks, displaying their candidates of choice. No one was afraid to share their vote. The teacher didn’t treat anyone any differently. It was an exercise in reminding 6-year-olds that they live in a democracy that requires citizen participation and a marketplace of ideas. Would that same activity run smoothly today?

Preeti is a first-generation American who lives in the heart of the nation, engrossed in the constant political output that living near Washington, DC, brings. Growing up in an Indian-American home, Preeti juggled varying perspectives to form her convictions, and she remembers a time when our politics reflected that. She remembers a time when our political ideologies and the beliefs people held weren’t direct moral indicators, a time when she was encouraged to listen to and understand the perspectives of both candidates because they were reasonable people. She remembers a world where she and her friends could disagree on their political beliefs and still sit together at the lunch table.

When Obama and Romney faced off, we were in kindergarten and second grade, respectively. It’s fair to say that not all of our peers have much memory of that race. Teens just a few years younger than we are certainly don’t remember it at all. Maybe the 2016 election is more clear in our peers’ memories. 2020 certainly is.

Our peers’ experience with American politics is incivility, drama, and disrespect. It’s filled with polarization and hate. It is not the shining ideal of self-government that our families immigrated to find or that the Founding Fathers imagined. And our peers are beginning to vote: 41 million members of Generation Z are eligible to vote in 2024, with 8 million “aging into the electorate” in this upcoming election, making up almost 50% of the electorate in the United States, and close to 55% in 2028, when joined with millennials.

If we continue on with leading politicians who can’t treat each other with respect and parties that can’t work together, our generation won’t know anything else. The future leaders and voters of the United States won’t even have a sense of what this nation can be.

Young people cannot fathom a healthy democracy. The language of protecting democracy has become a talking point of the left used to criticize President Trump for his election denial. But this criticism also applies directly to the left. Those aligning with extremes are doing themselves no favors by endorsing leaders and platforms who resort to personal attacks instead of policy-related discourse and who don’t articulate why they are the best leaders for the job at hand.

To be educated, global citizens, we need to know how things should be done. If we want to achieve the goals that we set for our communities, countries, and world, we need to know where to start. History is an option, and a good one at that. But seeing leaders actually lead by example in the present would allow us to contextualize the abstract thoughts and ideas that encompass democracy. It’s hyperbolic to say that the results of November’s election will determine the survival of our democracy. But our democracy is in jeopardy if no one shows our generation what it’s supposed to look like.