On Thursday, September 24th, MAP Founder and CEO Steven Olikara served as a panelist for a webinar titled “Our Common Purpose: Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century”, hosted by the Office of the Provost at Case Western Reserve University.
The panel included:
Steven Olikara, Founder and CEO of the Millennial Action Project
Stephen Heintz, President of Rockefeller Brothers Fund and member of the Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship
Kathryn Levelle, Ellen and Dixon Long Professor in World Affairs at Case Western Reserve University
Michael P. Scharf, Co-Dean of the School of Law at Case Western Reserve University.
Natalie Tran, Executive Director, CAA Foundation founder, and Co-founder of I Am A Voter and the Civic Alliance
Steven Levine, Co-founder of Meteorite Social Impact Advisors and Director of Civic Alliance.
The panel was moderated by Ben Vinson III, Provost & Executive Vice President of Case Western Reserve University.
The panel began with each speaker introducing themselves and the ways in which their work relates to the modernization of American democracy. Steven Olikara, Founder and CEO of Millennial Action Project, emphasized the power of listening, noting that listening is an important aspect of a large, diverse democracy. Olikara also mentioned the idea of creating a Constitutional amendment on term limits, an idea that has been proposed by many lawmakers in recent history. He advocated for structural changes our democracy needs, including changing the process of voting so that the candidate who wins the majority of the votes, wins the election.
Olikara emphasized that young people are a huge part of the solution.Young people — especially Millennials —are modeling more effective civil political discourse than older generations, and that they are taking on more public service roles. Perhaps, as Olikara mentioned, this is because Millennials came of age in a government that has failed them with a systemic breakdown and a crisis. But now is not the time to turn away from democracy.
Stephen Heintz, President of Rockefeller Brothers Fund, contended that America’s current democracy is a dysfunctional government system, and that it’s causing Americans to lose faith in their government and in each other. Heintz discussed his plan to develop a set of recommendations in order to empower voters. This plan is a result of a listening tour of a diverse array of American citizens in large and small communities, including retired Marines in Maine, non voters, voters, and future voters. Heintz concluded that people don’t think American democracy is working, but that they want to be a part of change. According to Heintz, “we can’t get anything done until we reinvent our democracy for the 21st century.”
Following the topic on structural change to American democracy, Michael Scharf, Co-Dean of the School of Law at Case Western Reserve University, contended that there should be 18- year term limits for Supreme Court Justices, noting that the political makeup of Supreme Court Justices is based on actuarial luck of the draw. Additionally, Scharf mentioned that the 6/3 conservative majority that the Supreme Court holds right now does not represent the general American public, and that sometimes, it takes a crisis to make a change.
Kathryn Levelle, Ellen and Dixon Long Professor in the School of Law at Case Western Reserve University, noted that this country has the American Revolution every generation, in a sense, and that the country should be “founding” instead of “fighting.” At the first presidential debate on Tuesday, September 29th, she is hoping to hear how candidates would take on the question “what kind of democracy do we want?”
The panel discussion concluded with questions from the virtual audience. The panelists emphasized that American democracy needs structural change to suit the 21st century, and that this change is possible.