In January 2018, Bob Graham came to Pensacola to speak at CivicCon and to give the first UWF’s Seligman First Amendment Lecture Series lecture. Graham’s Center for Public Service at the University of Florida was a model for the Studer Community Institute’s Center for Civic Engagement.
At the Seligman Lecture, Graham spoke about his family and citizenship. When he left the U.S. Senate in 2005, Graham said his first commitment was to be with his 11 grandchildren, and his second priority was citizenship.
“I was concerned with some of the things I saw in terms of a decline in some of the essential values of America,” Graham said. “In terms of citizens seeing it was their responsibility not just to sit in the stands and watch democracy being played, not just devote every other year (to an election), but to actually be a participant in our democracy.”
He felt like government had drifted away from citizen involvement, and he wanted to do what he could to bring back that spirit because democracy was never intended to be passive.
“Before you can be involved, you have to be aware that there is either a missed opportunity, something that my community could be doing to make this a better place, or a problem that is keeping us from being a better place.”
Graham said for a long time Pensacola was a missed opportunity. He believed its metamorphosis began with public dialogue. He said, “Somebody had a dialogue about Pensacola, and somebody through that dialogue reached the conclusion that Pensacola could be an even better place if a number of steps were taken, and then they committed themselves to taking those steps.”
He added that for ideas to become a reality, citizens must have the same commitment, persistence, and skills to make it happen. “Pensacola has clearly gone through that process and is continuing to do it today.”
Graham is worried about the state of democracy because of the voting history of younger Americans. “Something is wrong that young people don’t see the same importance of participation in our democracy as their grandparents see it to be,”
He was concerned about the decline of civic organizations, noting that civic clubs once were great places for dialogue to identify opportunities and problems and chart the path toward reform.
“Nationally today, less than six percent of Americans belong to any organization that has a civic mission, and unfortunately, in Florida, less than four percent of any Floridians belong to an organization that has a civic commitment,” Graham said.
The growing number of Americans believing our democracy might only last another 20 years also bothered him.
Graham said, “If that is anywhere close to reality, we don’t have much time to waste in getting people involved in democratic activities.”
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Footnote: When I interviewed Rev. H.K. Matthews two years ago, he credited Gov. Bob Graham for granting him a full pardon.
