“American civics should be more like the Super Bowl. To be part of America’s social fabric is to show up—whether you’re a football obsessive or tuning in mostly for the commercials. Nobody checks credentials at a Super Bowl party door. A six pack and chips gets you in. Watch the game, enjoy the ads and complain about the halftime show. Fans and non-fans flock to the broadcast. In an era of fragmented media and hyper-personalization, that’s unusual. It speaks to something deep: Americans still want to be part of something together. For a long time now, we’ve been losing that instinct in our civic life.”
– former U.S. Senator Ben Sasse, a Republican, in the Wall Street Journal, Feb. 6, 2026
I want to simply bring together what Sen. Sasse said with a 2025 episode of the “What Now? with Trevor Noah” podcast.
Noah’s guest was Robert Putnam, the Harvard professor who wrote the classic book, Bowling Alone. The show unpacked how Trump exploited social isolation in the 2024 election by creating a new club of sorts. He made millions of disenchanted people, across demographic lines, feel heard. From the white nationalists to unchurched Black men without a college degree, he wanted, as Noah noted, to just dance with people at a rally and not talk about public policy.
Trump offered belonging. Democracy should too.
The social/interpersonal bonds are what keep the “bowling league” together, committed, and in it for the long haul.
Putnam’s prescription to restore the modern day bowling league–not literally but the utility of it– includes three action steps:
(1) Go young. It will be the Millennial and Gen Z generations that figure out the new bowling league, likely a mix of IRL and new tech platforms.
(2) Go local. Needs to happen where people live, so they can have common problems and solutions.
(3) Go moral. Universal morality like the Golden Rule or another tenet that is about the civic “we,” not “me, me, me.”
I actually think Gen X should also be part of this mix. My generational cohort, I think and hope, still have the civic duty thing in their DNA, whether they’re Republicans or Democrats.
(Let’s ignore the fact that a majority of my generation voted for Trump. I think many, though not all, are having second thoughts and are more open minded about voting for a more competent, reasonable alternative. I’m not saying they’re going all lefty, at all. I’m saying they’re more open to reasonable ideas.)
Reconnecting people to each other is the precondition to reviving American’ sense of civic duty, and a more respectful — and productive agenda for government and our economy.