You remember him, right? Tall guy, former pro basketball player, former senator, ran for president in 2000.
It seems that Reza was the only person in Austin who could pick this larger than life guy out in a crowd, and he called to tell me about it. “I’ve got a story for your blog,” he started the conversation.
Bill Bradley (who is well over six feet tall) and Reza (who’s a little shorter) both went out for a walk at Town Lake Sunday afternoon. Reza was enjoying his own anonymity when he spotted this guy who looked like Bill Bradley. He couldn’t believe that Bradley could take a walk without anybody recognizing him in a crowded public park in Austin, the most politically aware place in Texas and a blue area on the election map, so he decided to follow the tall man.
Once he had ascertained that this man really was Bill Bradley, Reza spoke to him. He even has a photo that his friend took of the meeting. I’ve seen it. I recognize Bill Bradley.
Reza was glad he met someone who has made a mark in American civic life, but he’s disappointed in Austin. “If people in Austin don’t recognize a guy like that,” he said with a note of despair in his voice as it trailed off.
I tried to comfort him by asking whether people would know Bill Clinton if he turned up at Town Lake. Reza was indignant. “People would know Clinton,” he said.
Then I tried saying that I probably wouldn’t recognize Bill Frist if I ran into him in a park, but Reza would not be consoled. “Frist is ordinary looking. He could be anybody,” he said.
Anyway, I lied. I’d probably recognize him. I once identified Felipe Gonzalez, who was prime minister of Spain and about the same height as everybody else, when I saw him at a hotel in Leningrad. I can make out powerful men in crowds.
And so I ask: why don’t we remember the faces of the people who lead the U.S. government? Or maybe I should ask: what are we doing that is so much more important than learning about the people who lead the U.S. government? Or even: why do so many of us just not care?
Ironically, the U.S. government spends a lot of effort promoting the value of democracy and the importance of effective participation in civic life to people who don’t live here. When I was in Armenia, I worked on a project that supports young people’s involvement in the civic life of small towns and villages. This is just one of many programs that are at least partially paid for by our tax dollars. Similar programs are carried out under the auspices of the United States Agency for International Development around the world.
When I told a visitor to Seguin about my summer adventure in Armenia, she said, “Couldn’t you do that here?” I think I do, but in the university classroom.
Where does civic education take place here in the United States? Who teaches us to value democracy? I think public schools are supposed to inculcate civic values, along with all the other tasks they have on their plate. Maybe the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts?
Some kids are, I’m sure, learning to be politically active in their churches, but most of them probably wouldn’t be too excited about Bill Bradley even if they did recognize him.
I met a 20-something man from Maracaibo, Venezuela, this weekend. Although I don’t know if he has a clue about candidates for president of the United States, when I asked Pablo what he thought of Hugo Chavez, he answered, “I don’t hate him.”
He then paused before adding, “He was democratically elected. That’s the most important thing. He’s not as bad as they say here.”
I, rudely perhaps, asked a similar question about the recent elections in Bolivia, and Pablo answered, “He was elected democratically. If that’s who they want, they should have him.”
Whatever Pablo’s positions on the issues that face the republics of his region of South America, he’s sure that democracy is necessary.
Do we have such a sound faith in democracy? How would Americans answer similar questions about George W. Bush?
We could say he was democratically elected… this time.
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