Dr. Lindsey Cormack, a political scientist at Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, challenged students and community members to rethink their role in the American government, arguing that citizens cannot afford to remain passengers in a political system they have the power to change and influence. The event took place on Tuesday Sep. 22 at the Rozsa Center. Dr. Cormack spent around an hour speaking about how Americans need to be better citizens, not just politicians.
Dr. Cormack spoke about civil education, political participation, and the responsibilities that come from being an American citizen. Her presentation focused on what role ordinary people should play in maintaining and improving the government. Dr. Cormack said, “Many Americans view politics as chaotic, exhausting, and sometimes alienating.” She pointed to political polarization, negative media coverage and social media outrage as events and factors that make people feel disconnected and disagreeing with the government. However, Dr. Cormack explained that political disagreement and dysfunction are not new problems in the United States. The nation’s founders faced these disagreements when creating the government. Dr. Cormack added, “The articles of confederation failed, the constitution has been amended multiple times, and the country’s political system has been changed many times to respond to the problems that have arisen.”
Dr. Cormack also challenged the image of America’s founding fathers as primarily politicians and lawyers. She named Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington as people not in politics, but people that were interested in science and engineering, relating back to her message of how everyone, no matter their background can contribute to the political landscape in the United States.
She also expressed that another challenge is the lack of civic education given to students. She pointed out that students get government education in middle school and maybe once in high school, but argued that is not enough to have the knowledge to be an informed citizen. She discussed national civics results, saying eighth grade students showed little improvement in civic knowledge from the years 1998 to 2022. She pointed out that just because there is information on the internet doesn’t mean students will understand what’s going on and how the government works. She encouraged the audience to view political disagreement differently. Rather than treating political opponents as enemies, she said, “disagreement can be a necessary part of democracy.” She compared citizens as a crew of a ship rather than passengers, explaining that citizens cannot watch the direction of the government; they must participate in determining its course. At the end of the presentation, Dr. Cormack encouraged the audience to view themselves as part of the improvement of the United States and to consider what citizens they want to become. Dr. Cormack ended by saying, “What kind of founder are you going to be?”
