Change, Trust, and the Frustration of Not Following Through

Image Credit: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Public Domain

There was a story my father would always tell me around Yom Kippur about a Rabbi who wanted to change the world. It went like this:

“When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn’t change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn’t change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family. Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world.”

What that story means is simple; the world, the nation, the community, and even your family might seem impossible to fix on your own, but the possibility of taking the opportunity to make yourself better can create a positive influence on the world around you.

This still resonates today with me as I have tried to turn my writing, reporting, and storytelling into forms to help make not only myself better, but the world better. So as you can imagine, for someone with not that big of a platform, it distresses me that those with huge platforms and followings don’t take that opportunity of action.

Allow me to explain.

With the COVID-19 pandemic feeling as it will never end, an uncertain economy, and worries of more climate disasters, it is easy to see why many would say the United States is heading in the wrong direction.

Most interestingly, however, is that a majority of Americans from both major political parties say that Democracy is in danger.

Per a Marist College poll, a majority of Americans are worried about Democracy, whereas X is not. The kicker however is that 87% of Democrats think that Republicans are the ones responsible for this crisis whereas 88% of Republicans think Democrats are the ones to blame.

In short, there is a major trust issue in American society.

You can see it online, where multiple people will get into arguments about a single poll and whether or not to believe it. In the open where some don’t trust getting medicine based on information they were given by media outlets, and overall, more people are feeling safer in their own social bubbles to interact with like-minded compatriots.

Some have believed that because of this decline in trust and norms in American Society, that there must be dramatic change and reforms in our system. G Elliot Morris, a political analyst of the Economist, and Rick Hansen, a Law and Political Science Professor are two great examples of those sounding the alarm regarding the Republic.

Both have called for dramatic reforms such as eliminating the filibuster, and have been tweeting and posting about the fact that there must be changes quickly, lest this falls to pieces. Both are incredibly smart and are masters of their respective trades.

Morris is known for his data analyzing abilities and was able to pinpoint the 2018 midterm elections with ease. Hansen meanwhile is known for his law blog and did extensive analysis on the Supreme Court in late 2020 and the election lawsuits they received.

While sounding the alarm is great, there is a component the two of them lack that falls flat: a lack of taking action.

Let me be clear: I am not advocating for either of these two to be superheroes, or start rallies to get more people to understand what’s going on in our country. I am also aware that the two have dedicated followers and listeners, especially Hansen who is a professor and teaches students for his job.

With that said though, there does come a point where I question: what is your next step?

The ideas of great reform and beefing up guard rails for our Democracy are needed, one hundred percent. But there does not seem to be a general urge from the public to beef up those norms and government structure.

I’m not even referring to HR1 or the John Lewis Voting Rights Act; no, I am talking about factions, and Madisonian thinking, and federalism… all things people of the United States of America don’t think about on a daily basis.

In reality, I think the reason the United States Government has managed to stay around for so long is that people trust the system. There are times where the system needs to be rebooted, or upgraded with amendments like the holy trinity that is the 13th 14th, or 15th amendment, or even patch amendments like the 21st! Trust is such an important component in our Democracy and Republic that it is the glue that holds people together.

You can talk about how Madison had this great vision, or how the Supreme Court having judicial review was a mistake, but the bottom line is that American voters don’t have an extensive thought process or knowledge of our three branches. In fact, the author Stephen King made an error on Twitter by saying that Democrats control all three branches of Government, the House, the Senate, and the Presidency, when in actuality it is just two branches.

There’s also the issue that people with large platforms, especially on the internet, are operating through social bubbles. You may get the intellectual voters of some areas, but people who are just thinking about what kind of job they want? I’m not sure.

If you want change to happen in this country, then there needs to be a building of trust. But how does one do that?

You can’t just force political leaders to hold hands. That is ridiculous.

Let us go back to the original story I related at the beginning of the article:

“When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn’t change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn’t change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family. Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world.”

Change and trust-building for our country does not come through retweets and clout; it comes through making changes within yourself.

I remember how I thought that I could save local news by just tweeting about it and having a large platform. But that is not going to save it. Instead, I decided to be a part of the local news ecosystem at NewTV as an intern, and write for local news magazines and news blogs such as Western Mass Politics and insight. What I did was change my habits and my ethic to make some sort of positive impact on myself and the world.

So what can you do?

Taking breaks from social media is imperative, I think, as it gives us fresh information at lightning speed and we don’t know how to process it quickly, causing mass chaos and absolute statements that backfire in our face.

Setting up events and just talking to new people is also helpful. We need to get prepared to go back to a social face-to-face life, even with the curtain of COVID-19

Go with the flow. Life is random, and history has not been finished. Sometimes our analysis can blow up in our faces in less than a year.

And learn to trust yourself and others. That is the building block we need in order to ensure a safer and healthier republic.