America Falling: Introduction

I'm back. Obviously, this isn't much of a weekly column anymore, but the name is catchy, so I'm not gonna change it. This is the introduction to a series about the two things I am most civilly passionate about: social capital and political knowledge in America. Enjoy.

In recent decades, American social capital has fallen to alarmingly low levels that would make classic political thinkers roll in their graves. Also, Americans perform abysmally on any kind of political knowledge test. These situations have implications on everything from the face of American politics to America’s leverage on the global economy, making them issues that absolutely must be addressed. However, nobody in Washington is attempting to address them, and there are now major grassroots movements attempting to increase American social capital or political knowledge. The raw statistics on these issues truly tell a story of a falling America.

On November 4, 2008, 61.7 percent of eligible Americans cast their vote for President of the United States (McDonald). Although markedly higher than other recent Presidential election turnouts, It is still extremely low in comparison to many European countries and, more importantly, early American voting turnout. Only thirteen percent of Americans in 1993 reported that they had attended a public meeting on town or school affairs (Putnam). Perhaps this would be understandable today, since the internet allows immediate access to information and immediate communication, but this survey is from before the early days of the web. Finally, according to the Pew Research Center for People and the Press, only thirty-five percent of Americans score in the “high” category (at least fifteen correct answers to twenty-three questions) on a comprehensive, but relatively basic, political knowledge test. That means only slightly more than a third of American adults can score a “D” on a basic test about important people and issues of their country. In the rest of this series, I will further explore these and other statistics, analyze their meaning for America today, and attempt to provide some classical interpretation and commentary on these pressing issues.