Alan Wolfe

Wolfe is widely recognized for his studies and observations on American politics and religion; the intersection of religion, morality and public policy; and cultural issues. He is author and/or editor of more than 20 books including Does American Democracy Still Work?, Return to Greatness: How America Lost Its Sense of Purpose and What It Needs to Do to Recover It and One Nation After All, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.  His essays and criticism appear regularly in The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, The Atlantic Monthly, and other venues.

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Wolfe on civil discourse, from “Civility and Democracy: Are They Contradictory?”:

Since civility and democracy are both good things, we are fortunate to have them. But sometimes things can appear to be a little too good, and then we might become a tad suspicious about them. Both civility and democracy are too good in that sense as well. After all, if they are both good and if neither requires a great deal of effort, then why do we constantly seem to fall short in the attainment of both? As much as we value civility and democracy, we cannot help but notice when a burst of incivility breaks out or democracy does not live up to its ideal. These days, we seem to be suffering from a want of both. Not only have our politics become nasty, our democratic political system seems incapable of getting much of anything done. When it comes to civility and democracy, we ought to have both, yet we seem to have neither.