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Harvard professor, Robert Putnam speaks about strengthening democracy and social capital at the University of Montana
September 29, 2025/
“Montana led Americans to a better place. And you can do it again. And you must do it again,” Robert Putnam said.
“In my lifetime, we have gone from being one of the most equal countries in the world to virtually the least equal,” he said. Putnam added that along with the inequality, the country had stopped thinking as a “we” and more of a collection of “I”s.
“If people are regularly getting together and having face-to-face interactions throughout their community, you are exponentially more likely to have a healthy and functioning democratic institution,” Skye Borden, the deputy director of the Mansfield Center.
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