American democracy requires that we ’be architects, not arsonists’

Big Books & Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller

As we approach Election Day, Big Books and Bold Ideas returns to our Americans and Democracy series. Here are some of the question we’re confronting. How nimble and flexible and resilient is our democracy? What is required of Americans to build and support a healthy democracy? Do we still want it?

Eboo Patel writes in his book, “We Need to Build,” that a fresh manifesto for a new era in America could sound like this: “We, the varied peoples of a nation struggling to be reborn, are defeating the things we don’t like by building the things we do.”

It’s a realistic but hopeful take from a man who is considered by many to be an expert on how to tolerate and even celebrate differences in a pluralistic society. During his conversation with host Kerri Miller, Patel admits he was a fire-breathing activist when he was young, more inclined to burn the whole system down. But after years of working with Americans of different beliefs, he says, he has come to value being more of “an architect than an arsonist.”

“You don’t create societies by burning things down,” he says. “You create societies by building things.”

It’s a provocative, thoughtful and inspiring discussion that will linger long past the results of this election.

Guest:

• Eboo Patel is the founder and president of Interfaith America, an organization that supports religious diversity. His most recent book is “We Need to Build: Field Notes for a Diverse Democracy.”