As 2024 Elections Near, Distinguished Panel Brings Perspectives On the Value of Democracy

Cass R. Sunstein ‘72, Bret L. Stephens ‘91, Rev. Joseph P. Watkins ‘71, and Mr. Hoar ‘07 discussed the changing political culture inside Washington and across the nation, and how Middlesex can emulate the best of Capitol Hill.

Middlesex was honored to host three alumni who are eminent figures in American politics and government on May 10. Moderated by Mr. Hoar, a member of the 2024 Elections Faculty Task Force, the panel featured Cass Sunstein, the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard Law School, a senior counselor of the Department of Homeland Security, and former administrator of White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2012; Bret Stephens, a right-of-center opinion columnist for The New York Times who is considered their main conservative-minded voice; and Joe Watkins, a pastor, Republican media analyst, White House aide under President George H.W. Bush, and at one point the Republican candidate for congress.

The panel discussed the decline in general civility in Washington and in the United States as a whole. Mr. Watkins mentioned that during his years on Capitol Hill working for Senator Dan Quayle and President Bush, both Republicans, it was more common to reach across the aisle to write and pass legislation than it is today. He also noted a tendency among members of Congress to do whatever it takes to hold onto their seats once getting elected, a mindset that often obstructs legislative goals. In the eighties and nineties, when Watkins worked in government, elected officials frequently made a point of showing their willingness to work with members of the other party. Nowadays, officials up against a tough re-election campaign tend to drift to the more extreme wings of their party to stir up their most partisan base of supporters. 

According to Mr. Stephens, America’s “hardware” of democracy, such as the courts, is in good condition, while the “software” of democracy is under stress due to citizens’ inability to understand how or why someone else could interpret a political issue differently than they do. America’s us-versus-them way of thinking stems in large part from the modern day reality of getting news from sources that reinforce and inflame one’s political viewpoint. He referenced social media, calling it “anti-social media,” as a now ubiquitous medium that filters our news consumption to further separate, say, political progressives from conservatives and thus divide our nation. Mr. Stephens said that to counteract this feedback loop, he reads the columns of his colleagues at The New York Times, some of whom are liberals or progressives.

The panel conversed on constructive ways to think about national politics–Mr. Sunstein used the H-2B visa program, which allows immigrants to work temporarily in the United States, as an example of an important issue that Republicans and Democrats both agree on. In the media sphere, issues on which the two parties are polarized take up greater space than the issues the two parties agree on. Similarly to Mr. Stephens’ comments, this aspect of modern media augments the positive feedback loop of political news consumption. He mentioned polls of parents’ growing disapproval of their son or daughter’s marrying someone of another political party as an example of social forces working to divide Americans. However, Americans of different political parties often have more in common than they think, Mr. Sunstein noted. He provided an anecdote of his senate confirmation to be administrator of the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, in which he had breakfast with a Republican senator who was ardently opposed to Sunstein’s appointment. While the senator was congenial and the conversation productive, the senator still refused to vote to confirm Sunstein due to partisan folly. The U.S. democracy would be in better shape if government officials, and more broadly Americans, of different political parties could be more congenial to each other.

The panel discussion was informative and generative. The panel was also entertaining, and all four on stage had moments of illuminating wit. Messrs. Watkins and Sunstein, it was gleaned, were also on the thirds basketball team during their time at Middlesex. A friendly openness pervaded the panel discussion–while Mr. Sunstein works for President Biden, the dialogue between him and the two politically center-right individuals on stage, Messrs. Stephens and Watkins, did not suggest any partisanship. Rather, the conversation, with its casual yet constructive air, serves as an example for the Middlesex community and the nation to disagree well. A functioning democracy depends on this skill.

George Thornton