IDEA Director and Associate Director Featured in The Lantern on Restoring Civic Engagement
IDEA Director Michael Neblo and Associate Director Amy Lee were featured in The Lantern on one of the central questions behind IDEA's work: why Americans have disengaged from politics and what can bring them back.
Only 17 percent of Americans say they trust the federal government to do what is right, according to the Pew Research Center. Michael, who testified before Congress on this issue in December, told The Lantern that what appears to be apathy is actually learned helplessness. Americans have not stopped caring. They have stopped believing their participation matters.
"It's not that they lack passion. It's that they lack the belief that their passion can be directed to any constructive end." — Michael Neblo
Michael pointed to IDEA's research showing that when citizens are given a genuine two-way conversation with an empowered decision maker, they show up at far higher rates. That finding is at the core of every program IDEA runs, from Deliberative Town Halls with Members of Congress to Dayton Deliberates launching this year.
Amy spoke about the role Ohio State students can play through IDEA's deliberative forums and why a land grant university is the right institution to lead this kind of work.
"Our job isn't to tell either side anything. It's to amplify the voices of both so that they can talk to each other." — Amy Lee