Why Kinder Civics?

May 15, 2026

It’s time to create a plan…a cohesive plan that pulls together the various facets of this new undertaking, Kinder Civics. Right now I feel like I am in a corn maze and there are many ways to turn, many paths to try. I know many of the things I want to accomplish, and I suppose those are the various paths I could take. But in what order? What if I haven’t seen all the available paths, and what if I overlook an important one?

I have many, many questions to answer. But I think the most important question is why am I doing this? Why did I start Kinder Civics?

It came to me just three weeks ago when I reached a sort of mental clarity that I have been working towards for more than two years (a different story entirely). I am not done with that journey, but I had an awakening, if you will, in late April. It was as if a recurring dream I have had for years came true…while I was awake. I used to dream that I had lived in the same house for decades, and one day I discovered several “new” rooms that I didn’t know were there. Last month I had an epiphany of sorts and I found some recently vacated space in my brain and in my life to tackle a problem that has been hounding me for 10 years.

That problem is our current state of civic affairs, civic engagement, and political discourse in the U.S.

I am a political science professor at a wonderful community college in Illinois. Every weekday I get to do what I love: read about politics, study politics, examine political phenomena from various angles, teach about politics, facilitate discussions about politics, and learn what my students think about politics. I’ve been doing this for about 16 years now, and I have loved almost every minute of it.

Part of my job is keeping up to date on political events happening both domestically and internationally. For the past 10 years or so, I have become increasingly concerned about our political future. And I have been wondering what I can do to try to make our country a tiny bit better. I vote, I teach, I recycle, I keep my AI use to a minimum, I shop locally, I avoid foods with pesticides, I live simply. But I feel there is more to do. I feel like I have to do something about the political atmosphere in the U.S.

Is there a way I might help our country become a little more politically informed, more politically civil, more politically tolerant, more politically engaged, more politically empowered, and more politically efficacious? It hit me that I simply want to help our country become a little more politically kind.

I am striving to make our political condition in the US kinder. That’s all. A kinder approach to politics. A kinder approach to political discourse. A kinder approach to policy-making.

I am already trying to do that at the college level, and I think I am accomplishing that. Students have told me that I am. But is there a way to help lay and nurture the groundwork of kindness before students turn 18 years old? Maybe even from a child’s first years?

That means teaching the children how to be a responsible and engaged citizen early in life, so the foundation is set when they are old enough to cast their first vote.

Teach the children civics. Teach the children a kinder form of civics.

Voila.

Kinder Civics.

I will be documenting my journey as events unfold. I tend to think better when I write pen (preferably a colored gel pen) to paper. So I will record the progress is a journal, revise a bit, and share it here.

Please follow along and help create a kinder form of civics.