Sam Bear on Increase social capital and political participation

Over the past 50 years, Americans have become substantially less engaged in civic associations, religious institutions, and their government. In the spectacular book "Bowling Alone," Robert Putnam defines social capital as "the connections among individuals — social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them." He argues that social capital is important because it helps groups solve collective problems. Social capital building organizations provide a benefit both to the individual making the investment — joining the PTA is a great way to meet other parents in your local area — and to the community as a whole — the PTA helps improve schools. In "Bowling Alone," Putnam shows unequivocally that social capital has an effect on "educational performance, safe neighborhoods, equitable tax collection, democratic responsiveness, everyday honesty, and even our health and happiness."

Some people won't agree that social capital is a problem, but I honestly believe that it is the SOURCE of a great deal of our country's most serious problems from the environment to the war. People point to voting figures in recent elections, especially by young Americans, as a sign that social capital might be increasing, but voting DOES NOT build social capital. Voting is a spectacular democratic institution, but it is an individual activity. There are plenty of ways to get involved with politics that don't involve voting (talking about those ideas is one of the goals of this website). It is important to elect the right leader, but to think that your duty as a citizen of the United States comes up every 2-4 years is absurd. If we want to change this country, more specifically, if we want to make America BETTER, we all need to get involved in our communities and involved with our government. If you're on this website, I'm guessing that you already understand that.