Friction-maxxing for democracy’s sake

Maintaining a democracy is kind of a slog. I spent two days in jury service after a week of swallowing news about the extralegal killing of American civilians and the supposed immunity of federal agents. The tedious, highly formalized procedure of sitting in a chamber for hours to watch legal teams vet out which people are qualified to pass judgment on the affairs of their fellow citizens felt like the most abrasive, refreshing chaser.

If you’ve never been called in for a jury summons, here’s what happened on the day I was called in: all potential jurors were seated in a large waiting area, where some were winnowed out and dismissed due to caregiving obligations, medical needs, financial hardships, and other urgent concerns. Others were dismissed through a random selection of names. The rest of us were brought into a courtroom, where people were selected to be individually questioned about their personal backgrounds as they pertained to the case. Elements that presented a potential bias towards one party or another led to further questioning. Both litigants had opportunities to request the dismissal of potential jurors whom they believed would exhibit partiality. All this took the equivalent of two full workdays, and at the end, the selected jury was sworn in.

I was occasionally bored during jury service but mostly impressed. The formative moments in my relationship to American democracy have not been especially dramatic—I’m not deeply moved by presidential elections, or, frankly, surprised by abuses of federal power. But I have felt an undiluted happiness when the immigration system works as it should, and I receive correspondence years after a frantic week spent negotiating transportation for a child refugee to appear at her asylum hearing, and open it to find photos of this child now celebrating her college graduation in the United States. I felt pleased the whole time I was sitting in the courtroom watching the judge slowly proceed over jury selection because of how much care was being invested in making sure that the two parties received a fair hearing.

One of the few things I remember from my brief, unhappy stint in undergrad political science classes (before I switched to American Studies, lol, and admitted what my true interests were) is Samuel P. Huntington’s observation that “America is not a lie, it is a disappointment. But it can be a disappointment only because it is also a hope.”

America deserves critique because it purports to be better than it is. So, I am critical because I care about what America could be. But in the areas where my country is attempting to do what it says it will do, I feel no need to be critical, just carefully and patiently invested.

Finally, it needs to be said: I also loved, loved, LOVED jury service because there is virtually NO OTHER SPACE IN MY LIFE where I am OBLIGATED to sit still for a few hours with no chores, little conversation, and minor stimulation. If the courts are struggling to find jurors I think they should rebrand jury service as “silent retreat.” I wish I had taken a picture of my retreat site. All I have now is a photo courtesy of Yelp—

I joined Arthur Mensah on his podcast preMature Adults, where we laid out my entire life story. The conversation went long!! Listen if you want to hear about my upbringing in the American South, the criticality and deep affection I hold towards the evangelical church, repenting for our discipleship to capitalism, and how I approach virtually all the important relationships in my life. Arthur asks good questions, so we covered a L O T of ground. Here’s an excerpt in case you don’t want to commit to 55 minutes of yapping:

This seems like a good time to revisit the conversation I had with Sara Billups about our relationships to patriotism, religion, and criticality. Have you read Sara’s new book? She explores virtually every theme I’ve discussed here, but in depth.

Also, remember how I said I was trying something new at Christianity Today and abandoning the personal essay format? Well. I turned in a short, snappy little piece about books and music, which my editor read and said…let’s turn this into a full on essay. It’s already becoming a monstrosity, guys!!! I’ll share when it’s up.