Archive for the ‘Democracy’ Category

Democracy and the Liberal Arts: A Student’s Perspective – Huffington Post

It would be easy to become despondent in the face of the relentless attack on the media and on facts that confront us these days. But there is reason to be hopeful.

McKenzie Murray, a senior at Olympia High School in Olympia, Washington, explained why, despite the troubling patterns she sees, shes optimistic about the future. Her essay detailing her perspective which won the Washington Consortium for the Liberal Arts 2017 High School Liberal Arts Essay Contest makes it clear that she understands the nature of the problems were facing.

Politically, were in the midst of some of the most divisive times my generation has ever seen. And as discourse surrounding policy devolves, and people realize that they can capitalize on confusion and fear, a completely new challenge has suddenly been added to our high school experience--the proliferation of fake news on our social media feeds.

She also understands the consequences of the problem. Our democracy cant function without trust between the citizens, our policymakers, and the writers that keep us in touch with one another. Undermining the media is a tactic to silence civilian dissent and cover up gross ethical violations by some of the most powerful people in our nation.

Why, then, is she optimistic? Simply put, she sees a solution to the virulence that is putting some of our most cherished social values at risk.

The antidote to this silencing is a liberal education--an education that spans disciplines and emphasizes critical thinking. The liberal arts give us a voice, and a framework for understanding and discussing our world. Literature and philosophy allow us to look at the idea of a post-truth society and call it what it is--Orwellian, and a violation of our most basic civil liberties. Social studies allow us to look at when this has happened before, and what people did about it. Studying English and language fosters the kind of reasoning and judgment skills that we need to stay informed citizens. Mathematics and the sciences assist us in critical thinking, and seeing the logical underpinnings beneath hazy rhetoric and false claims.

McKenzie recognizes the power the liberal arts has to shape the qualities needed for students to become active citizens. She appreciates the fact that no one discipline or approach is enough to solve our most pressing problems. And as she notes, a broadly based liberal education, can create important habits of thinking: It fosters a kind of vital curiositya desire to understand life and humanity and to constantly keep learning.

She is confident that her generation will embrace this sort of education and that by doing so members of her cohort will learn the kind of critical thinking, truth-seeking, and commitment to respect and unity that we will need to practice throughout our entire lives.

I find McKenzies optimism to be contagious. If high school students like her are able to clearly define some of our most troubling problems and to recognize the type of education needed to craft solutions, there is good reason to be hopeful. Perhaps this next generation will be less divisive and more skeptical, more willing to recognize the difference between opinions and facts, than the current one. If so, they will likely create a more rational and more just world while supporting the full stretch of human knowledge from the sciences to the arts.

Start your workday the right way with the news that matters most.

Continue reading here:
Democracy and the Liberal Arts: A Student's Perspective - Huffington Post

Trumbull High junior receives Sutherland Inspiration in Democracy Award – CT Post

Photo: Matthew Montgomery / Matthew Montgomery Photography

Sutherland

Sutherland

Matthew Kuroghlian, 16, a junior at Trumbull High School, is hugged by Doug and Terry Sutherland after receiving the Kevin J. Sutherland Inspiration in Democracy Award on Sunday.

Matthew Kuroghlian, 16, a junior at Trumbull High School, is hugged by Doug and Terry Sutherland after receiving the Kevin J. Sutherland Inspiration in Democracy Award on Sunday.

Senator Chris Murphy speaks at the 2017 Keys to Democracy Trumbull Democratic Town Committee Awards Dinner at Tashua Knolls Country Club in Trumbull, Conn. on Sunday, March 26, 2017.

Senator Chris Murphy speaks at the 2017 Keys to Democracy Trumbull Democratic Town Committee Awards Dinner at Tashua Knolls Country Club in Trumbull, Conn. on Sunday, March 26, 2017.

Senator Chris Murphy speaks at the 2017 Keys to Democracy Trumbull Democratic Town Committee Awards Dinner at Tashua Knolls Country Club in Trumbull, Conn. on Sunday, March 26, 2017.

Senator Chris Murphy speaks at the 2017 Keys to Democracy Trumbull Democratic Town Committee Awards Dinner at Tashua Knolls Country Club in Trumbull, Conn. on Sunday, March 26, 2017.

Rep. Jim Himes speaks at the 2017 Keys to Democracy Trumbull Democratic Town Committee Awards Dinner at Tashua Knolls Country Club in Trumbull, Conn. on Sunday, March 26, 2017.

Rep. Jim Himes speaks at the 2017 Keys to Democracy Trumbull Democratic Town Committee Awards Dinner at Tashua Knolls Country Club in Trumbull, Conn. on Sunday, March 26, 2017.

Senator Richard Blumenthal speaks at the 2017 Keys to Democracy Trumbull Democratic Town Committee Awards Dinner at Tashua Knolls Country Club in Trumbull, Conn. on Sunday, March 26, 2017.

Senator Richard Blumenthal speaks at the 2017 Keys to Democracy Trumbull Democratic Town Committee Awards Dinner at Tashua Knolls Country Club in Trumbull, Conn. on Sunday, March 26, 2017.

Senator Richard Blumenthal speaks at the 2017 Keys to Democracy Trumbull Democratic Town Committee Awards Dinner at Tashua Knolls Country Club in Trumbull, Conn. on Sunday, March 26, 2017.

Senator Richard Blumenthal speaks at the 2017 Keys to Democracy Trumbull Democratic Town Committee Awards Dinner at Tashua Knolls Country Club in Trumbull, Conn. on Sunday, March 26, 2017.

Trumbull Town Treasurer Anthony Musto at the 2017 Keys to Democracy Trumbull Democratic Town Committee Awards Dinner at Tashua Knolls Country Club in Trumbull, Conn. on Sunday, March 26, 2017.

Trumbull Town Treasurer Anthony Musto at the 2017 Keys to Democracy Trumbull Democratic Town Committee Awards Dinner at Tashua Knolls Country Club in Trumbull, Conn. on Sunday, March 26, 2017.

Trumbull Board of Finance member Vicki Tesoro speaks at the 2017 Keys to Democracy Trumbull Democratic Town Committee Awards Dinner at Tashua Knolls Country Club in Trumbull, Conn. on Sunday, March 26, 2017.

Trumbull Board of Finance member Vicki Tesoro speaks at the 2017 Keys to Democracy Trumbull Democratic Town Committee Awards Dinner at Tashua Knolls Country Club in Trumbull, Conn. on Sunday, March 26, 2017.

Trumbull High junior receives Sutherland Inspiration in Democracy Award

TRUMBULL Matthew Kuroghlian, a Trumbull High School junior, was presented Sunday with the Kevin J. Sutherland Inspiration in Democracy Award, named after the intern of Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., who died in a knife attack on a subway in Washington nearly two years ago.

The 16-year-old Trumbull High student was singled out for dedicating himself to public service and engaging young people in local and state elections while still in high school, according to the Trumbull Democratic Town Committee which bestowed the honor. He is vice president of his class and a leader in the Model United Nations THS club.

When I was in high school, I began a Young Democrats organization, too, and its still active, said Sen. Chris Murphy. I know many of you have a sense of anxiety over whats happening in Washington, but its not something that cant be cured by political action.

Rep. Jim Himes recalled Sutherland as a young man who could bring about change though thoughtful expression, rather than bombast and insults.

To me he was a little brother, Himes said. We should all be in awe of the strength of his character. I didnt always agree with him, but I always wanted to hear his thoughts.

He said turning back efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act was a major victory for Americans.

This was a week in which we pushed back to protect a whole bunch of people, he said of Congress decision not to repeal the law commonly known as Obamacare.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal told the gathering Democracy was in peril and the nation is careening toward a Constitutional crisis because of Russian meddling in the fall elections.

I will block any nominee for deputy attorney general until and unless he commits to a special prosecutor , he said, someone who can perform an aggressive, impartial inquiry, and bring charges and prosecute whoever is responsible up to and including the president.

Matthew was a volunteer for Himes in his 2016 campaign and held a leadership role in the unsuccessful 2016 campaign of Lino Costantini for Trumbulls 126th District seat in the Legislature. Matthew also created a group, the Eastern Fairfield County Young Democrats.

Doug Sutherland, Kevins father, was choked with tears when he approached the lectern. He thanked Kuroghlian for starting a Young Democrats group in Trumbull.

This was something that Kevin tried to to when he was at Trumbull High but of course there was no Donald Trump back then, he said. So I guess there is a silver lining in this after all.

Also honored by the TDTC Sunday night were Timothy A. Cantafio, vice president of engineering for Northeast Electronics, Corp., Milford, for his four decades of involvement in local political and social issues, and Beryl Kaufman for furthering the participation of citizens in our government and protecting the rights and education of people with special needs.

Cantafio ran unsuccessfully for a Town Council seat when he was 18. He is a lifelong Trumbull resident and with his wife, Dawn, reared two children here.

Kaufman, as a young mother, became executive director of the Connecticut Association for Children and Adults with Learning Disabilities and Attention Deficits, or CACLD, which was active from the early 1970s until recently. She also organized the first conference in Connecticut on issues faced by high school graduates with special needs.

More than 250 turned out for the dinner event at the Tashua Knolls clubhouse, and those in attendance included former first selectmen Paul Timpanelli and Ray Baldwin, former Bridgeport Mayor Tom Bucci and Tom McCarthy of the Bridgeport City Council.

The attack on Kevin Sutherland occurred on July 4, 2015, in a Washington Metro train. Police said Sutherland, 24, died of numerous stab wounds.

Jasper Spires, then 18, has been charged with the crime, and the case is continuing. Police said the attack began when Spires tried to steal Sutherlands cel phone and that the suspect may have been high on synthetic drugs at the time.

Visit link:
Trumbull High junior receives Sutherland Inspiration in Democracy Award - CT Post

California: Trump Supporters Attack Anti-Trump Protesters – Democracy Now!

The U.S.-backed Iraqi militarys ground campaign to retake west Mosul from ISIS has been halted as details emerged over the weekend about U.S.-led coalition airstrikes that killed over 200 people in a single day. The U.S.-led coalition has admitted launching the March 17 airstrikes that targeted a crowded section of the Mosul al-Jadida neighborhood.

Some reports say one of the strikes hit an explosive-filled truck, triggering a blast that destroyed nearby houses where hundreds of people were taking refuge amid the citys heavy fighting. Up to 80 civilians, including women and children, may have died in one houses basement alone. The March 17 strikes appear to be among the deadliest U.S. airstrikes in the region since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Over the weekend, witnesses told The Guardian that some of their family members remain trapped under the rubble after days of U.S.-coalition airstrikes battered neighborhoods in and around west Mosul. This is a family member of some of the civilians killed in the March 17 strike.

Witness: "I came to the house to stay with my family, but the owner of the house told me there was no place for me. More than 100 people were inside. Half an hour later, the house was hit in an airstrike. There were neither snipers nor ISIL militants on the street. At least 15 people from this street, that links into the alleyways, have been killed."

The journalistic project Airwars reports as many as 1,000 civilians have died in U.S.-led coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria in March alone. The high civilian death toll is leading many to question whether the U.S. military has loosened the rules of engagement that seek to limit civilian casualties. The Pentagon maintains the rules have not changed. Well have more on U.S.-led airstrikes, including the devastating strikes in Mosul al-Jadida, later in the broadcast.

Here is the original post:
California: Trump Supporters Attack Anti-Trump Protesters - Democracy Now!

Autocratic Silicon Valley Leaders Won’t Save Democracy – Newsweek

This article originally appeared on The Conversation.

In late February, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerbergpublished an essaythat laid out the social networks vision for the coming years.

The 5,700-word document, immediately dubbed a manifesto, was his most extensive discussion of Facebooks place in the social world since it went public in 2012. Although it reads to me in places like a senior honors thesis in sociology, with broad-brush claims about the evolution of society and heavy reliance on terms like social infrastructure, it makes some crucial points.

In particular, Zuckerberg outlined five domains where Facebook intended to develop the social infrastructure to give people the power to build a global community that works for all of us. This included making communities supportive, safe, informed, civically engaged and inclusive.

Silicon Valleyhas long been mockedfor this kind of our products make the world a better place rhetoric, so much so that some companies are asking their employees to rein it in. Still, while apps for sending disappearing selfies or summoning on-street valet parking may not exactly advance civilization, Facebook and a handful of other social media platforms are undoubtedly influential in shaping political engagement.

A case in point is the Egyptian revolution in 2011. One of the leaders of the uprising created a Facebook page that became a focal point for organizing opposition to ousted leader Hosni Mubaraks regime.He later told CNN:

I want to meet Mark Zuckerberg one day and thank him This revolution started on Facebook.

As I have written elsewhere, Facebook and Twitter have become essential tools in mobilizing contemporary social movements, from changing the corporate world to challenging national governments. Zuckerbergs manifesto suggests he aims to harness Facebook in this way and empower the kind of openness and widespread participation necessary to strengthen democracy.

But while hes right that social media platforms could reinvigorate the democratic process, I believe Facebook and its Silicon Valley brethren are the wrong ones to spearhead such an effort.

Theinitial reactionto Zuckerbergs manifesto was largely negative.

The Atlanticdescribed it as a blueprint for destroying journalism by turning Facebook into a news organization without journalists.Bloomberg Viewreferred to it as a scary, dystopian document to transform Facebook into an extraterritorial state run by a small, unelected government that relies extensively on privately held algorithms for social engineering.

Whatever the merits of these critiques, Zuckerberg is correct about one central issue: Internet and mobile technology could and should be used to enable far more extensive participation in democracy than most of us encounter.

In the United States,democracycan feel remote and intermittent, and sees only limited participation. The 2016 election, which pitted radically different visions for the future of democracy against each other,attracted only 60 percent of eligible voters. In the midterm elections between presidential campaigns,turnout drops sharply, even though the consequencescan be equally profound.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg gestures while addressing the audience during a meeting of the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Ceo Summit in Lima, Peru, November 19, 2016. Reuters

Moreover, whereas voting is compulsory and nearly universal in countries such as Brazil andAustralia, legislators in the U.S. are actively trying to discourage voting byraising barriersto participation through voter ID laws, sometimestargeted very preciselyat depressing black turnout.

Democratic participation in the U.S. could use some help, and online technologies could be part of the solution.

Thesocial infrastructure for our democracywas designed at a time when the basic logistics of debating issues and voting were costly.

Compare the massive effort it took to gather and tabulate paper ballots for national elections during the time of Abraham Lincoln with the instantaneous global participation that takes place every day on social media. Thetransaction costs for political mobilizationhave never been lower. If appropriately designed, social media could make democracy more vibrant by facilitating debate and action.

Consider howone Facebook post germinated one of the largest political protests in American history, the Jan. 21 Womens March in Washington and many other cities around the world. But getting people to show up at a demonstration is different from enabling people to deliberate and make collective decisionsthat is, to participate in democracy.

Todays information and communication technologies (ICTs) could make it possible for democracy to happen on a daily basis, not just in matters of public policy but at work or at school. Democracy is strengthened through participation, and ICTs dramatically lower the cost of participation at all levels.Research on shared capitalismdemonstrates the value of democracy at work, for workers and organizations.

Participation in collective decision-making need not be limited to desultory visits to the voting booth every two to four years. The pervasiveness of ICTs means that citizens could participate in the decisions that affect them in a much more democratic way than we typically do.

Loomioprovides a platform for group decision-making that allows people to share information, debate and come to conclusions, encouraging broad and democratic participation.OpaVoteallows people to vote online and includes a variety of alternative voting methods for different situations. (You could use it to decide where your team is going to lunch today.)BudgetAllocatorenables participatory budgeting for local governments.

As Harvard Law School ProfessorYochai Benklerpoints out, the past few years have greatly expanded the range of ways we can work together collaboratively. Democracy can be part of our daily experience.

This ICT-enabled democratic future is unlikely to come from the corporate world of Silicon Valley, however.

Zuckerbergs own kingdom is one of the most autocratic public companies in the world when it comes tocorporate governance. When Facebook went public in 2012, Zuckerberg held a class of stock that allotted him 10 votes per share, giving him an absolute majority of roughly 60 percent of the voting rights. The companysIPO prospectuswas clear about what this means:

Mr. Zuckerberg has the ability to control the outcome of matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, including the election of directors and any merger, consolidation, or sale of all or substantially all of our assets.

In other words, Zuckerberg could buy WhatsApp for $19 billion and Oculus a few weeks later for $2 billion (afterjust a weekend of due diligence). Or, a more troubling scenario, he could legally sell his entire company (and all the data on its 1.86 billion users) to, lets say, a Russian oligarch with ties to President Vladimir Putin, who might use the info for nefarious purposes. While these actions technically requireboard approval, directors are beholden to the shareholder(s) who elect themthat is, in this case, Zuckerberg.

It is not just Facebookthat has this autocratic voting structure. Googles founders also have dominant voting control, as do leaders incountless tech firms that have gone public since 2010, including Zillow, Groupon, Zynga, GoPro, Tableau, Box and LinkedIn (before its acquisition by Microsoft).

Most recently, Snaps public offering on March 2took this trend to its logical conclusion, giving new shareholders no voting rights at all.

We place a lot of trust in our online platforms, sharing intimate personal information that we imagine will be kept private. Yet after Facebook acquired WhatsApp, which wasbeloved for its rigorous protection of user privacy, many were dismayed to discover that some of their personal datawould be sharedacross the Facebook family of companies unless they actively chose to opt out.

For its part, Facebook has madeover 60 acquisitionsand, along with Google, controlseight of the 10 most popular smartphone apps.

The idea that founders know best and need to be protected from too many checks and balances (e.g., by their shareholders) fits a particular cultural narrative that is popular in Silicon Valley. We might call it the strongman theory of corporate governance.

Perhaps Zuckerberg is theLee Kuan Yewof the web, a benevolent autocrat with our best interests at heart. Yew became the founding father of modern-day Singapore after turning it from a poor British outpost intoone of the wealthiest countriesin the world in a few decades.

But that may not be the best qualification for ensuring democracy for users.

ICTs offer the promise of greater democracy on a day-to-day level. But private for-profit companies are unlikely to be the ones to help build it. Silicon Valleys elites run some of the least democratic institutions in contemporary capitalism. It is hard to imagine that they would provide us with neutral tools for self-governance.

The scholar and activist Audre Lordefamously saidthat the masters tools will never dismantle the masters house. By the same token, I doubt nondemocratic corporations will provide the tools to build a more vibrant democracy. For that, we might look toorganizations that are themselves democratic.

Jerry Davis isProfessor of Management and Sociology, University of Michigan.

Original post:
Autocratic Silicon Valley Leaders Won't Save Democracy - Newsweek

Democracy in Crisis: Paul Ryan’s No Good, Very Bad Day – The Independent Weekly

Friday afternoon, after a dramatic capitulation, House Speaker Paul Ryan walked out before the press and conceded defeat on what had been his partys primary concern for the last seven years.

Obamacare is the law of the land, Ryan said. Were going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future.

It was stunning. Even though the president insisted on Thursday that there would be a vote Friday, he called the Washington Post one minute after the floor debate was scheduled to end and said: We couldnt get one Democratic vote, and we were a little bit shy, very little, but it was still a little bit shy, so we pulled it.

For someone as vain as Trump, who has prided himself on The Art of the Deal, that must have been a blow. But that was nothing compared to what was coming to the Republicans in Congress when Ryan had to tell them that they were moving on from health care.

Now we're going to move on with our agenda because we have big, ambitious plans" Ryan told the press.

Hole. Lee. Shit.

Theyve been talking about this forever. They control the entire government and they back off of repealing Obamacare barely two months in.

Moving from an opposition party to a governing party comes with growing pains, Ryan confessed, looking even more like a recently spanked Eddie Munster than normal. But neither he nor the president would publicly cast blame on the otheralthough neither has achieved anything of legislative significance yet.

The president gave his all, Ryan said.

I dont blame Paul. He worked very hard on this, Trump told the Post.

Ryan also said he did not want to blame the Freedom Caucus, but made it clear that they had problems with the bill. The alt-right wing of the party that supports the president hates Paul Ryan and called the bill Obamacare 2.0.

But Trump wanted to blame the Democrats.

We couldnt get one Democrat vote, not one. So that means they own Obamacare and when that explodes, they will come to us wanting to save whatever is left, and well make a real deal, Trump said.

The Democratic leaders of the House, who gave a press conference immediately after Ryans, were happy to own it. "We owned it yesterday and the day before and in November," said minority whip Steny Hoyer.

Todays a great day for our country, minority leader Nancy Pelosi said. Its a victory.

Ryan denied that the defeat would hurt the Republicans other legislative efforts, but the Democrats, who only days ago seemed demoralized and defeated, are certainly feeling the momentum and may be encouraged to actually fight against bills that may have previously seemed inevitable.

When asked if she would have imagined on November 9 that Republicans would have abandoned health care by March, Pelosi said, "Quite frankly, I thought they might have accomplished something in the first few months. They have absolutely no record of accomplishment."

Read more:
Democracy in Crisis: Paul Ryan's No Good, Very Bad Day - The Independent Weekly