Courtesy of Jo Tabacek
Oregon has seen a significant spike in the number of town hall attendees, as well as in their enthusiasm, in the months since Trump’s election. Events from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oreg.), Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oreg.) and Rep. Janelle Bynum (D-Oreg.) have drawn large, engaged and often angry crowds demanding answers over the actions of the Trump administration.
Legislators have been crisscrossing the state speaking with constituents, urging them to turn out and remain engaged as the Democratic Congressional minority attempt to make good on their promises to voters to protect social services and civil rights.
At a recent town hall event on April 6 at Parkrose Middle School in Portland, Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-Oreg.) and State Rep. Thuy Tran spoke to and answered questions from hundreds of attendees from around the Portland metro area.
Dexter and Tran, both physicians before becoming elected officials, opened with remarks championing the efforts and platforms of the Democratic party at the federal, state and local levels, acknowledging that many of their constituents across the aisle have expressed pressing concerns. Then attendees, who included seniors, students, veterans, business owners and civil action groups, were invited to take part in a raffle to address the representatives.
Attendees were pleased with the event — many felt galvanized by the chance to see their community come together.
“If I came away with anything today, my question was, ‘How do we help you?’” said Melanie Moon, of East Portland Indivisible, a branch of the grassroots national movement Indivisible, which organizes members to put pressure on local and state officials against Trump’s administration. “And that’s how we help is by doing what we’re doing, by us getting together, by us putting the pressure on. It’s huge.”
Dexter and Tran, as well as event organizers, expressed their optimism and pride at seeing large turnouts and encouraged attendees to be respectful but honest in their questions. However, these sentiments were far from reflective of the entirety of the national conversation.
The rise in attendance at town hall meetings has been met with reported concern and anger from Republican lawmakers. Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, reportedly urged Republicans to stop holding town hall meetings in a closed-door message to party members. President Trump has publicly alleged that angry attendees are simply “paid troublemakers,” a sentiment echoed by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to Politico, where he called people who express disagreement at town halls “professional protestors.”
There have been incidents reported nationwide of hostility and shouting at town halls directed at lawmakers associated with unpopular opinions in an effort to express disapproval of the current state of U.S. politics and government. Absent lawmakers have experienced “empty chair” protests, with photos left in place of the people that constituents want a chance to talk to. Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin and Michigan have turned to virtual town halls in response to these reports.
While the crowd at Parkrose Middle School was decidedly more restrained, signs reading “Be Like Booker,” “Resist” and “Trump is Running a Ponzi Scheme” made appearances among the bleachers. Dexter also fielded a few particularly critical or frustrated questions about her voting record, PAC contributions and the inability of the Democratic minority to effectively check the Republican majority.
However frustrated people may still be, in-person Democratic town halls have drawn large, friendlier crowds, such as Rep. Mark Pocan’s (D-Wis.) event where he directly highlighted a lack of transparency by Republican Party members.
After all, town halls are a chance for a sometimes-removed public figure to be confronted with their constituencies, and to put a face to the names from Washington D.C.
“I think oftentimes (town halls) offer reassurance,” said Deacon English, a student at Parkrose High School who attended the meeting and was selected to ask a question. “I feel that as if politicians can come off very disingenuous in settings like this, they claim to be pro- something, but then take back money and other means. So I think coming out here and keeping them honest should be the priority.”
“It’s really important that we keep speaking out together as a community, that us coming together like this is huge, and being solid in our solidarity and our community is what I keep saying” said Felice Mueller of East Portland Indivisible.
The field of political science pays great deference to the importance of organization and civic engagement as observed and championed by Tocqueville. Leah Gilbert, associate professor of political science at Lewis & Clark, teaches her class “Civil Society, Politics, and The State” by comparing civic engagement and action across the United States, Russia and Germany.
“A really strong finding in the literature is the importance of civic engagement for the durability and quality of democracy,” Gilbert said. “And there’s been quite a bit of concern, especially in the U.S. case, about how there have been declines in civic engagement.”
Gilbert highlighted the political science text “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community” by Robert D. Putnam, a seminal work discussing American civic engagement and the importance of community. As she discusses in her class, Putnam’s work was concerned with the degradation of the American peoples’ civic and social networks in the latter half of the 20th century.
“He highlighted how the U.S. had had a lot more social capital, and that there have been distinct declines in social capital,” Gilbert said. “He represents how Americans went from ‘bowling together’ to ‘bowling alone’ and talks about how these declines in social capital are really meaningful in helping understand why people might feel more apathetic, disconnected and lonely, and how it can enable people to feel more polarized.”
The networks referred to by Putnam, explained Gilbert, are not limited to political bodies. Social groups and organizations that bring people together outside of work life and home life, all have important implications for the health of American society. Religious and philanthropic groups, youth and senior groups, activity-based clubs and local political action groups all contribute to skills that improve a person’s experience of public life, as to Putnams titular bowling leagues.
There are over 28 thousand nonprofits in Oregon alone, not to mention civic groups, community groups and other organizations that bring people together. As town halls grow in frequency and popularity, many of those groups are organizing trips to speak to their elected officials.
The benefits of participation in social groups and networks, at least in the realm of civic engagement, are separated by political science scholars into internal and external benefits. Gilbert described the internal benefits as being changes in personal attitudes towards conflict, capacity for cooperation and increases in trust.
“Trust levels in particular are seen as really important for making institutions work,” Gilbert said.
The external benefits are encapsulated by the improvements in organizational skills which allow individuals to band together to effect positive change, and to be heard in a democracy.
Civic engagement was certainly on full display at Parkrose Middle, as questions ranged from checks and balances to corruption to responses to global conflict. Multiple individual community members, many of them local students, asked questions about the restriction of funding to schools and threats to shutter the Department of Education that have deeply concerned families, teachers and administrators in schools across the country.
Dexter had no concrete plan to single-handedly save public education, but publicly reaffirmed she would “fight like hell” to protect education across the country. And she was not alone in her sentiments towards helping others.
“I’m very interested in politics. I think this is the best way to help people,” English said. “I think using some of the things I have, such as my privilege, to help the people who might not have the things I have. Because, I mean, I’m not just one person. I want to be able to help anyone and everyone.”
Those interested in attending upcoming town halls can consult www.orcities.org › communications › bulletin
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