Twenty-five years ago, Robert Putnam wrote Bowling Alone.
His warning was pretty simple:
America was losing the places where Americans actually met each other.
Churches. Clubs. Neighborhood groups. Volunteer organizations. Bowling leagues.
Places where you didn’t ask somebody who they voted for before you sat down next to them.
And now Putnam says it’s worse.
Think about that.
We have more ways to communicate with each other than any generation in human history—and somehow we’re spending more time alone.
We’ve got 5G, FaceTime, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, podcasts, texts, group chats…
And apparently nobody has anybody to talk to.
That’s one hell of an accomplishment.
We’ve become incredibly connected technologically and increasingly disconnected humanly.
And I think that’s bigger than politics.
We keep hearing that America is divided between Democrats and Republicans.
I’m beginning to think that’s the wrong diagnosis.
We’re divided between citizens and spectators.
A spectator watches.
A spectator scrolls.
A spectator complains.
A spectator gets furious about something on Facebook, fires off three exclamation points, and considers his civic duty completed.
A citizen shows up.
A citizen knows the people in the neighborhood.
A citizen volunteers.
A citizen goes to the meeting.
A citizen listens to somebody they disagree with.
And most importantly, a citizen votes.
That’s why I don’t want the Truth Party to become another tribe.
God knows America doesn’t need another tribe.
I want it to become the place where the tribes meet.
Republican? Come on.
Democrat? Come on.
Independent? Absolutely.
Socialist? Sit down.
Conservative? Pull up a chair.
Don’t know what the hell you are anymore?
You’re probably the majority.
Because the requirement isn’t ideological.
The requirement is participation.
Maybe rebuilding America doesn’t begin in Washington.
Maybe it begins with something much smaller.
Put down the phone.
Walk outside.
Meet somebody.
Volunteer somewhere.
Go to a city council meeting.
Help your neighbor.
Vote.
Become part of something again.
Because perhaps the opposite of this great unraveling isn’t agreement.
It’s connection.
And before we can become a country again…
we’ve got to start becoming citizens again.
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