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When in American history have we had more free time for civic participation?
by FeloniousHam 9mo ago
When in American history have we had more free time for civic participation?
- t-3 9mo agoProbably never, except maybe during the period when only white male landowners could vote and so the "we" was a much smaller and wealthier group. Voter turnout is pretty high these days though. https://www.electproject.org/national-1789-present https://www.electproject.org/national-1789-present
- veidr 9mo agoI think the problem is more like: When in American history have we had more things that are more engaging¹ competing with civic participation for our free time? ¹: and I think the terrifying answer might be: LOL, never, so? Hurry up and die.
- supertrope 9mo agoJuly 2020.
- GeoAtreides 9mo agoaround May, 1886 and a lot more after
- danaris 9mo agoIn the latter half of the 20th century, while many things were much worse than they are today, it was genuinely possible to support a family on a single minimum-wage job in many parts of the country. Now, that doesn't mean that everyone used the extra time for civic participation, but when you compare that to today, when far too many people have to work two or three jobs per adult just to keep the lights on, I think it's fair to say that there was more free time.
- ryandrake 9mo agoYoung people seem to have plenty of free time to march around the streets protesting, chanting and banging drums (which has pretty much zero effect on policy), but they aren't able to find the time to attend a city council meeting, or even vote, for that matter.
- insane_dreamer 9mo agoPretty sure the young people protesting are the ones also voting. But that’s only a small fraction of the total young people.the rest are too busy on TikTok :/