Acting like a democratic citizen is the most meaningful way to celebrate America’s 250th birthday

Eagleton Institute of Politics Director and Rutgers University Research Professor Elizabeth Matto featured in NJ.Com as a Star-Ledger guest columnist in an article published on January 27, 2026.

In Acting Like A Democratic Citizen Is the Most Meaningful Way to Celebrate America’s 250th Birthday, Matto argues that the United States' semiquincentennial offers an ideal moment to think about what active citizenship means, particularly given a political environment characterized by widespread division and threats to democratic norms. She cites Americans' declining participation in activities like community meetings, protests, and volunteering as evidence that the United States is falling short of the aura of civic engagement that De Tocqueville identified as the 'fuel' of stable democracy in the early 1800s. Her call to action is to celebrate American democracy by practicing it beyond the ballot-box. 

Read the full article here.