Justice David Souter on “Civic Ignorance”

Wow, this video of retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter hits home. It’s from 2012 and Rachel Maddow just shared it on Facebook. I think her intent was to compare Trump to the Roman Augustus, who came in saying “I can fix everything” and became emperor. I actually don’t think we’re so far gone that Trump as president could get away with as much authoritarianism as his rhetoric suggests.

However, I do find Justice Souter’s comments relevant all across our political system at the local, state, and national levels. Complicated problems further clouded by a lack of transparency and accountability leave most of us confounded. We live in the “information age”, yet we still have great civic ignorance. We need to consider what democracy means in this era. Government “of the people” is more than the right to vote. It requires access to an understanding of how government works, how it doesn’t, and how to influence policy outcomes.