The powers that be want you to lose your democratic faith. They want you to stop believing in the constructive genius of ordinary men and women. They want you to think: “less people should vote” “the average stranger is suspect” “my neighbor is an idiot” and “only an elect few are capable of learning this or leading that.”
Those at the top want us to think this about ourselves and our neighbors because, as we lose this American faith in our ability to co-create our shared world, it becomes easier for them to convince us to freely give away more power to them. It becomes easier for them to further transform our society from a membership society to a management society and, with that transformation, further convert ourselves from citizens to consumers, from members to clients, from neighbors to strangers.
But remember: to hold onto a lost faith is itself a powerful act. All we need to do to begin fighting back — to move from management to membership again — is to trust in that democratic faith again. The democratic faith’s prayers are “hello stranger” “I wonder what my neighbor thinks” and “let’s figure this out together.” The democratic faith’s rituals are the handshake, the gathering, the brainstormed plan, and the curious question.
This democratic faith — a faith that we are all endowed with a Graceful and surprising creative intelligence — built our country. Since the Founding, it has opened the door for Americans to have the confidence to be, what Martin Luther King called, “co-workers with God.”
In this age of political disappointment, we may have lost our hope. But we must not lose this faith.