It is up to us to protect democracy from rage

There can be no daily democracy without daily citizenship - Ralph Nader

As we approach the end of 2025, I would like to share some reflections about democracy that stood out for me this year.

First, the September 10 assassination in Utah of 31-year-old conservative activist Charlie Kirk, likely at the hand of 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, revealed the emotionally unhealthy state of American democracy.

At a press conference two days later, Utah Governor Spencer Cox called on young Americans to engage in calmer political discourse: "You are inheriting a country where politics feels like rage. It feels like rage is the only option.” The governor went on to challenge American youth and young adults “to choose a different path."

As I pondered the significance of what he said, I recalled the Circle’s efforts to reduce polarization. The Circle borrowed a practice pioneered by the German news agency Die Zeit to help citizens discuss divisive topics – convening thousands of people to meet face to face. The Circle has conducted two rounds of this exercise on the legacy of the residential school system – the first in Ottawa on February 4 and the second in Toronto on April 5. The results showed a 25% shift in affective polarization – the kind of polarization characterized by holding strong negative emotions about those who disagree.

Not only am I encouraged by this result; I am happy to know that when we meet to discuss the issues that divide us, our democracy becomes stronger.

Friends, politics never needs to “feel like rage”.

Perhaps an exercise like this could be replicated in the U.S. And perhaps one day the U.S. will celebrate its own version of our “National Day for Truth and Reconciliation” to acknowledge the legacy of slavery, the national shame that Kirk refused to acknowledge. The U.S. could draw on the expertise Germans and now Canadians are developing in discussing our past openly and honestly, in ways that counter the kind of polarization that has driven so many Americans to violence.

As we head into 2026, let us heed the lessons of 2025 and answer the call to cultivate democracy in our communities. As philosopher William James invited us all o do, no matter what comes our way, let us all act “as if what we do makes a difference, because it does.”

-              Kayona Karunakumar