I’ve been telling myself for months that I should write a post about why I support Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. And I think that what it comes down to is that over the last ten years or so, I have become deeply pessimistic about the present state of American democracy but almost equally optimistic about its potential future. I’ve talked a lot about how much I believe in John Dewey’s vision of a truly democratic society – one in which citizens actively participate in making the decisions that affect their lives. But numerous studies indicate that today, most Americans don’t have basic knowledge of what goes on in government; nor do they necessarily see how voting for certain officials leads to policies that create results that they oppose. I do not believe that we are teaching our children how to question the world around them, or how to see the connections between actions and their consequences. As a result, our civic discourse has become debased, subject to distortions, emotional appeals, and personality-driven debates. But at the same time, work like James Fishkin’s and Bruce Ackerman’s on deliberative democratic polling suggests that average Americans are capable of fulfilling that idealistic Deweyan vision if we provide the opportunity and some basic tools.
And this is where I think Barack Obama is so uniquely positioned at the intersection of my deepest doubts and my fondest hopes. His rhetorical skill and his ability to emotionally connect and engage with people – even those who disagree with him – suggest to me that he can win an election, inspire people to engage in the process, and muster support for policies that will provide incremental but significant gains for people across the country and all over the world. But his background as a community organizer, his emphasis on grass-roots activism, and his dedication to government transparency suggest to me that he can help build the foundation for a future where his achievements might be considered timid in comparison. He wrote about that moment when a person realizes that he or she has a voice that deserves to be heard in his memoir, Dreams from My Father, and the passages struck me so much that I had to incorporate them into my dissertation. In his policy book The Audacity of Hope, which helped to launch his presidential campaign, he cites the idea of deliberative democracy, of citizens explaining their beliefs to one another and respecting those explanations, even when we disagree. It’s that vision that I believe drives Obama’s calls for hope and for change, and it’s a powerful vision that I support very strongly. What millions of Americans can accomplish by taking control of their destinies is much greater than what one man – even a president – can accomplish. But that president might be able to get those millions of Americans started.