Needed: The Courage to be Different

Needed: The Courage to be Different

I’m here tonight with some good news. I believe the democratic heart today is beating louder and stronger in America, and I think the reason for it in large part is represented in this room. There are a lot of folks in this room who have enormous courage, courage to stand up and be counted, courage to be different. And that’s what America is looking for. We’re looking to see if our democratic tradition can survive, let alone thrive. And Americans today are saying, we need leadership. We need people to be courageous.

You are imagining a different future . . .You want citizens who are engaged, not just entertained; who are empowered versus the feeling of being entrapped. You are trying to turn hopelessness and malaise into empowerment . . .

The American public is ready for action. I know it and you know it, too. I think we’ve been in a decade of the doldrums. We basically checked out. I honestly believe if we could get the American public to do just one thing, to just do it, to get out from behind the television and to go out on their virtual front porch and to get reengaged. That, I believe, is one of the true gifts of civic journalism and the press.

I was at a recent retreat with almost 200 members of the House of Representatives, and David McCullough got up and he explained throughout recent history the American public has served up a common enemy to our leaders, served up a common enemy, if you will, to the press. But for the first time in recent memory there is no common enemy, and he indicated that this is the time throughout history that people build cathedrals. This is a time when we do great, grand things . . .

Maybe the press could decide what their cathedral is going to be, how they become the important, critical force in renewing our democratic heart. Because in fact what we need in this country are more civic or social entrepreneurs, folks willing to take the heat, folks willing to take the risk. Because after all, that’s what many of you have done through civic journalism.

In fact, you’ve been accused of many things, boosterism, questions of independence, even propriety, soft-headedness is one I particularly like, feel-good news, but you stayed the course. And you stayed the course because it is your professional and personal conviction.

Now it’s not been without refinement. It’s not been without some mistakes, and that’s what learning is all about, and that’s what being courageous is all about. Because you realize that folks are willing now and eager for you to take the lead, because they want you to help dispel this culture of disbelief that has spread across the land . . .

Life is about courageous crusaders, and I believe that you are all crusaders here tonight. So I thank you on behalf of the American public because the press really is that connective civic tissue that holds us all together. I believe the health of the democracy depends on you staying the course, and we’re just delighted that you’ve allowed us to come along for the ride.