More Civil Societies with Julie Macken: It’s Time to Care

Earlier this week, Noah Feldman penned an opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Herald called ‘What if Mueller proves Trump collusion and no one cares?‘ In it, he notes how, just last week, we saw the first concrete evidence of Russian collusion in the 2016 election, but it was buried in the news cycle by the government shutdown and Trump’s first prime-time address regarding the border wall. What if, he asks, Mueller proves Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia, “and the public treats the news as completely unremarkable”?

Julie Macken says this suggests that Trump can get away with collusion because the American public doesn’t care. “This profoundly superficial attitude is more destructive for democracy than anything else I can imagine,” she says.

Closer to home, with a state and federal election coming up this year, Macken says it’s now more important than ever to start caring because not caring enough “can be really lethal for people and for nations”.

If you make one New Years resolution this year, perhaps make it to start caring about our values, our communities and our nation.

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