Civic Engagement—Does it Matter?  Watch Join or Die

by Martin Finston

In the late 1990s, the Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam raised an alarm:  America’s social fabric is unraveling—and it’s taking American democracy down with it!  A few years later, Putnam’s best-seller Bowling Alone laid out his message that community engagement is vital to democracy, but community engagement has been declining for decades.  

People just don’t join organizations like they used to, and because of that, we’re running out of social capital.  Prof. Putnam took bowling leagues as a prime example, but membership in churches and synagogues has suffered just as much.  Join or Die is a new feature documentary film that brings Putnam’s message into the 2020s.

The filmmakers, Rebecca Davis and Pete Davis, are a sister-brother team from Falls Church, Virginia.  They tell us that Join or Die is a film about why you should join a club — and why the fate of America depends on it.  With guest appearances by Hillary Clinton, Pete Buttigieg, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, and many others, we, as viewers, will join Prof. Putnam as he explores three urgent civic questions: What makes democracy work? Why is American democracy in crisis? And, most importantly… What can we do about it?

Woven through the film are profiles of contemporary civic organizations of the kind that Putnam has found to be foundational to a healthy democracy.  As Rebecca and Pete Davis tell us, “we hope that revisiting Putnam’s groundbreaking civic findings—and spotlighting the creative local groups acting in the spirit of them—can serve to inspire viewers to do what needs to be done to save our democracy: Join up!”

Martin Finston is President of Congregation B'nai Israel, Albuquerque.

Shabbat Sparks is a bimonthly series at Congregation B’nai Israel that sparks up Sabbath services with contemporary and relevant cultural programming.

What, when, and where:
“Join or Die” Shabbat Sparks Program at Cong. B’nai Israel
Saturday, November 16, 2024
-Lite Bites, 5 p.m.
-Havdalah Service, 5:40 p.m.
-Screening, 6 p.m.
-Dessert and Discussion, 7:45 p.m.

Tickets: First adult, $21; each additional adult on same purchase $16; under 17 years, $10.50 Advance tickets are required. For ticket purchase, please go to https://bnaiisrael-nm.org/ Click on the “Calendar” link and navigate to November 16, 2024. Support by the Lew and Abby Harris Fund is gratefully acknowledged.

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Community Supporter Advertisers of the NM Jewish Journal:
Jewish Community Foundation of New Mexico
Congregation Albert
Temple Beth Shalom
Jewish Community Center of Greater Albuquerque
The Institute for Tolerance Studies
Shabbat with Friends: Recapturing Together the Joy of Shabbat
Jewish Federation of El Paso and Las Cruces
Congregation B'nai Israel