{"id":2584,"date":"2024-11-17T16:00:07","date_gmt":"2024-11-17T16:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/?post_type=furman-update&p=2584"},"modified":"2026-08-25T19:44:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T19:44:27","slug":"riley-institutes-bryan-boroughs-and-claudia-winkler-provide-opinion-piece-on-collective-agency","status":"publish","type":"furman-update","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/news\/riley-institutes-bryan-boroughs-and-claudia-winkler-provide-opinion-piece-on-collective-agency\/","title":{"rendered":"Riley Institute’s Bryan Boroughs and Claudia Winkler provide opinion piece on collective agency"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This op-ed was originally ran on November 17, 2024, in the Greenville News<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Americans are unhappy. If nothing else is clear after the recent elections, surely that is.<\/p>\n

According to Gallup<\/a>, 72% of Americans surveyed in 2024 are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States. Pew found that only slightly over half<\/a> of young Democrats and Republicans aged 18-34 express at least some confidence in the future of the United States.<\/p>\n

This widespread dissatisfaction isn\u2019t just a passing ennui. American satisfaction has been on a downward trajectory since 2001, and it is grounded in real feelings and lived experiences, ranging from growing wealth inequality to deepening social rifts and a democratic system that is structurally undemocratic in myriad ways.<\/p>\n

The operative question in the face of this growing dissatisfaction is: How do we move forward productively, particularly in a climate in which significant portions of the electorate\u2014across the political spectrum\u2014are acting out of reciprocal anger and fear?<\/p>\n

We believe the answer has always rested with We, the People. We need to start showing the collective will to demand better for ourselves and demand more of our political representatives. That starts with our willingness to listen to reason and to each other.<\/p>\n

According to Pew<\/a>, 78% of Americans believe too little attention is paid to important issues facing the country. Meanwhile, a whopping 86% say the following is a good description of politics: \u201cRepublicans and Democrats are more focused on fighting each other than on solving problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a moment to reflect on those statistics, and then ask ourselves: Why are we letting this happen? Yes, our modern media landscape and self-perpetuating political system have a hand in where we find ourselves, but what happened to our agency and ability to make choices about what we consume and the types of people we have representing us?<\/p>\n

As an initial step toward disentangling us from the systems that bind us, we suggest starting with the basics. First, we recommend cultivating a healthy skepticism of our pocket computers, designed to tell us exactly what we are already inclined to believe, and making an active choice to consume information from across outlets that we know<\/em> each have some degree of bias (Not all biases are created equal. See AllSides Media\u2019s bias chart<\/a> for reference).<\/p>\n

Then let\u2019s make a conscious decision to interact with people who we know don\u2019t share our political views. The vast majority of us do it every day, and we know these family members, neighbors, fellow PTA parents and community leaders value honesty and kindness in their personal interactions, hard work, freedom, family, and stability.<\/p>\n

Once we have reminded ourselves that we all carry biases and we all largely value and want the same things for ourselves and our children, we can refocus on policies that affect the daily lives of all Americans, talk about those issues with the seriousness and consideration they deserve, and demand that our representatives do so as well. These issues include quality education, healthcare access and living wages coupled with the ability to build wealth, to name a few.<\/p>\n

The economy\u2014which we would argue encompasses access to quality public education\u2014and healthcare were the top two issues across both political parties<\/a> in the 2024 election. They also disproportionately affect the 36.8 million people in the United States living in poverty\u2014people who reside in red and blue districts alike.<\/p>\n

Indeed, this dynamic is in play right here in Greenville. In 2022, Greenville had a Meanwhile, in the 2024 Kids Count report<\/a> from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the state ranked 46th<\/sup> overall for child health, and according to the Commonwealth Fund<\/a>, South Carolina ranks 37th<\/sup> in health system performance.<\/p>\n

If we can find the will to make real progress around these core issues, we will be addressing needs here at home and in communities across America and across all levels of income, while doing essential work to meaningfully uplift the most marginalized and disadvantaged in our communities. Our energy needs to start going into how<\/em> this is getting done and less into who is doing it (or promising us they can): Team Red or Team Blue.<\/p>\n

Americans are unhappy. Fixing what’s broken isn’t solved by a descent into chaos or entrenchment into camps. It’s done by rolling up our sleeves, listening to each other\u2019s very real, lived challenges, and doing the hard work of demanding better for ourselves, for our neighbors and for our future.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bryan Boroughs joined The Riley Institute as executive director in October 2024. Prior to coming to Furman, Bryan served as chief operating officer and general counsel at the Institute for Child Success.<\/em><\/p>\n

Claudia Winkler is The Riley Institute’s director of marketing, communications and strategic alignment.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This op-ed was originally ran on November 17, 2024, in the Greenville News.   Americans are unhappy. If nothing else is clear after the recent elections, surely that is. According […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":3509,"template":"","update-categories":[51,96,100,49,53],"class_list":["post-2584","furman-update","type-furman-update","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","furman-update-category-applied-public-policy","furman-update-category-civic-participation","furman-update-category-democracy-and-voting","furman-update-category-furman-innovation-lab","furman-update-category-op-ed"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/2584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/furman-update"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/2584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4782,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/2584\/revisions\/4782"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"furman-update-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/update-categories?post=2584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}