Hanson said the middle class’ diminishing economic and political
strength over the last few decades has created the current state of
American democracy where power is vested with the wealthy.
“If we really want to empower citizenship, what we should be doing is
saying the greatest threat to citizenship is the decline of the middle
class,” Hanson said.
“If you don't have a middle class that is empowered, economically
sufficient, they're not going to be able to leverage the wealthy, and
they're not going to be a recipient of largess from the government.”
Liu, who joined the discussion virtually from his home in Seattle,
said that while he and Hanson may not agree ideologically in some
cases, they do concur on the waning middle class in America and the ramifications.
“The fact is while we can agree that the need for a more robust
middle class is central, we can also, as Americans, argue on the best
ways to get there,” Liu said. “That's part of what it means to self
govern, to recognize that sometimes your worldview is going to win and
prevail on the best way to do things, and sometimes the other person's
worldview is going to prevail.
“But I think that’s the central goal of creating the material
conditions so that people have not just the time and not just the kind
of influence, but simply the self conception that middle class
existence affords us to be able to participate in the everyday work of
civic life and democratic self government.”
Liu said the best way for Americans to re-empower their lives as
citizens is by starting simply and building connections in their communities.
“Join, join a club, join anything,” Liu said. “Remember the Ben
Franklin little woodcut he made during the revolutionary era, ‘Join or
Die’? It was not just a slogan about the Union during the revolution.
It's a way of life.
“The crisis that we are going through right now is not only an
economic material one, it is a spiritual crisis. Loneliness and
isolation are so powerfully contagious, and they are the greatest
enemies of democracy. When we are isolated, we are manipulable.”
Hanson encouraged young Americans to travel, see the world and
experience different cultures and ways of life to develop a better
appreciation for their homeland’s strengths and faults.
“I think sometimes we hold America to a standard that’s impossible,”
Hanson said. “If you travel and you see how things work, you come back
with a renewed appreciation. We don't have to be perfect to be good,
but we do have to be better than the alternative.
“Once we have that humility, I think we're realistic that we do
pretty well, and we shouldn't hold ourselves up to be perfect, and
then when we don't achieve it, say that we're no good. We're a very
good country, and we’re better than the alternative, and that's good
enough in this life.”
The Hauenstein Center’s next event will honor Constitution Day with a lecture by Vincent Phillip
Muñoz, founding director of the Center for Citizenship and
Constitutional Government at the University of Notre Dame. Muñoz will
speak at 6 p.m. on September 19 at the DeVos Center, Loosemore
Auditorium, on the Pew Grand Rapids Campus.
