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This summer, my roommates and I crowded around my laptop to watch Cassidy Hutchinson describe in detail President Donald Trump's involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection. We were not shocked, and we were definitely not surprised.
Contrary to the horror and disbelief with which many older Americans viewed the January 6th insurrection, many in my generation felt that the attacks were almost inevitable, insofar as they represented a physical manifestation of our fractured democracy.
My generation's only real frame of reference for "democracy" in action is the vitriolic racism and partisanship spewed at President Obama, that on several occasions literally shut down the government, followed by the disaster that was the Trump presidency. To say we expect little from our democratic institutions is to put it lightly.
Older generations view the Trump presidency as unique to him, while my generation views it as symptomatic of larger, more foundational problems with our nation. We are disinclined to chalk up the problems facing our country to his bombastic, pathological personality; instead, young people are more likely to take issue with the institutions and conditions that allowed his rise in power in the first place.
A study conducted in the middle of the Trump presidency found that young adults were more likely to express distrust toward a broad range of governmental institutions in comparison with older Americans. And sadly, this lack of trust in institutions is associated with a lack of trust in fellow citizens. While just 19 percent of adults over 65 view their fellow citizens as untrustworthy, fully 49 percent of Americans 18-30 say the same.
While distrust in political institutions can be a useful indicator that these institutions are not functioning as they ought to, the utility of distrust in your fellow citizens is more complicated. This sort of pessimism does not lend itself well to building a vibrant, participatory political system. Pessimism directed toward one's fellow citizens renders all efforts to create a better, stronger society dead in the water.
Even worse, young Americans are ambivalent about the very premise that democratic participation in government is the best path forward. A Harvard Institute of Politics poll conducted in the aftermath of January 6th found that 52 percent of young Americans view the U.S. as a "democracy in trouble" or a "failed democracy." That same poll found that only 57 percent of young people think it is very important that America remains a democracy. That is an astonishing number.
At the same time, it makes sense that young people are so ambivalent toward democracy. It's hard to trust the judgment of a nation that fell for a con man. It's even harder to trust the institutions that supported him.
And yet, democracy cannot be defined by one day or one person. It is an ongoing process, an honest recognition of our nation's history, of where we have fallen short of living up to our democratic principles. It's tens of millions of Americans taking to the streets to say, enough, we demand changes to our public safety infrastructure. It's labor unions exercising their First Amendment right to assemble and advocate for better treatment of workers.
In order to build our confidence in the democratic process, we need to see elected officials as participants in rather than obstacles to a functioning country. In this regard, the choices of our elected officials over the next several years will be as significant as any choices that could have been made on Jan. 6.
The decision between liberalism and illiberalism is far from made. If our elected officials continue to treat their job as a sporting event or a television program, young people will be driven further toward cynicism and apathy. Elected officials must begin treating their job with the gravity it demands by showing their constituents that they are engaged in deep, meaningful work to improve the material conditions of their constituents.
Ultimately, the choice remains with us, the youngest generations, whether we allow the failures of our elected officials to define for us how our democracy can function. We can also make the choice to own up to our inheritance, its flaws and its potential, and dream big about what our country can be.
Toella Pliakas is a writer based in Brooklyn and has written extensively on policing with articles published in The Washington Post and Teen Vogue, among other publications. You can find her on Twitter @ToellaPliakas.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
