When I returned to Congress as a staffer after nearly two decades away, I expected polarization and gridlock. What I didn't expect was how differently a new generation of staffers perceived the system they'd inherited.
In my latest op-ed at The Hill, I describe a change in how staffers and citizens recognize American democracy through the concept of “shifting baselines.”
This is a term from ecology that illustrates how each generation views the environment of their youth as normal, regardless of how degraded the system may be compared with the past. As a former fisheries scientist, I find myself wondering whether future generations will continue to recognize when it’s necessary to push back if their firsthand memories are only of political upheaval.
Read more about what shifting baselines may mean for American democracy at The Hill.
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