A Civic Communication Corps

By Deb Roy

We live in an age of social media and polarized broadcast media in which the loudest voices and most extreme opinions dominate. Americans have self-sorted into politically and culturally isolated enclaves, susceptible to false narratives trafficked by political and media opportunists. The collapse of shared truths that inform us of the nuance and complex lived experience of our fellow citizens, and of empirically grounded knowledge, has put our country in grave danger. For those of us committed to the idea that all people have equal rights to live together as part of one democracy (a majority of Americans, I believe), we need to build new civic communication infrastructure that enables communities to be heard by one another, for improved mutual understanding, and by leaders, so that government becomes more responsive to citizens.