Social Capitalist in Chief & Other Election Notes

Tom Sander does a nice job on his Social Capital Blog articulating the significance of Tuesday’s election for those of us focused on social capital and civic engagement. He notes that after reaching all time lows a decade ago, voter turnout approached, and perhaps surpassed, the all time highs.

Clearly there are signs the tide is starting to turn on civic engagement, with the significant youth vote being especially heartening for me. Motivated by what at the time was low youth interest in politics and other forms of participation beyond volunteering, the Youth Council was the first program we established when we started SCI seven years ago. One of my favorite Youth Council projects is the one where the youth facilitate debates among candidates for local office at the local high school.

Over the past decade, many organizations across the country have been working with young people in programs with goals similar to the Youth Council. Of course having a young candidate in Barack Obama that spoke to issues of concern to young voters was the primary reason for the high turnout among young voters. But I’d argue that work done in youth civic engagement programs helped make this generation receptive to a messenger with the right appeal for them.

Now, to the Social Capitalist in Chief point. We here are pleased to see a president who has is at his core a Social Capitalist. As everyone knows now, President-elect Obama cut his professional teeth as a community organizer. Though there were attempts to disparage this experience, I think we can see in the successful campaign the value of the organizer’s skills of reaching out to the grassroots, listening to concerns, and building coalitions. In addition to this early experience, Obama also participated in the Saguaro Seminar for Civic Engagement in America convened by Robert Putnam, so he is explicitly versed in concepts of social capital and its importance for American communities. 

As an AmeriCorps program, we here at SCI were pleased to see both candidates express a commitment to expanding national service programs. It should be noted that Senator McCain has been a long advocate of national service, a position informed by his military service. If the election had gone the other way, service would have still probably fared well in a McCain administration.

Now, as we wait to see the specifics of how Obama’s positions of service will play out in the new administration, we know there will be a compelling call to service from President Obama. I heard a young voter interviewed yesterday comment that Obama would be his generation’s MLK and John Kennedy. I don’t know that he intended to suggest that Obama picks up the legacies of both 60s leaders, combining the vision for racial just and equality that informed the civic rights movement with the call to service that created the Peace Corps; but that is certainly an exciting possibility to contemplate coming from President Obama. We know that President Obama has many tall tasks before him; but for now, I like to focus on the potential, and consider what we can do in light of the opportunities before us to strengthen our communities and our country.

Social Capital Inc. is rabidly nonpartisan and does not endorse candidates or policy positions—we are focused on the notion that our communities and our democracy are at their best when we all do our part. From time to time, SCI Founder & President David Crowley offers commentary in his blog about the significance of public events and issues for our work at SCI.