Madness
March & Democracy
Welcome. Immediately below is the April 1 preview from the forthcoming book, All of Us: A Pro-Democracy Book of Days for America. See earlier editions of this newsletter for more about the book.
This April 1 entry is one of four that explore the question, Who are my people? (at least a partial answer to which is on full display during the current NCAA basketball tournaments and March 28 No Kings rallies around the world).
April 1 – Who Are My People?.1
“The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life. Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof.”
- Richard BachIn the perfectly integrated, comprehensive, inclusive, and balanced nation in which most of us do not live, we can hear the cheerleaders’ rhythmic, enthusiastic, and obvious response to Who are my people? echoing around the arena: EV-ree-one!
Wherever most of us actually do live, it is helpful to have a sense of who our people are—not in the unhealthy us-vs.-them sense that governs most finite games, but in the sense of realistically assessing with whom we might do the most good in the world, with what we have to offer, without harming others, to the benefit of the whole shebang.
In some families, members embody deep, permanent bonds, and in other families, they hold each other in contempt. Who our people are lies not in some definitive choice we make but in our authentic attention to the intersections of who we think we are, the stories we choose, the impacts we have and receive, and what we now see and own that we previously had not. While we may share blood, geography, and chronology, our people are inevitably found and known through experience, belief, and worldview. They include those we care about and who care about us, and those we learn from and with, and who learn from us. Our people are those to whom we are attuned and with whom we are aligned.
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Richard Bach, Illusions; The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, (Dell, 1977), 84.
March Madness
Today’s post borrows from and replicates parts of the March 18, 2025 post, in which we explored the as-yet-unrealized possibility that Americans might generate the same madness toward their disintegrating democracy as they do toward their respective university basketball teams.
As I begin this on Saturday, March 28, eight teams remain in the men’s D1 tournament, and by tomorrow night, just four will remain.1 Last night, my alma mater, St. John’s, completed its second 30-win season in a row with a round-of-sixteen loss to Duke. Anyone who attends or watches tournament games and pays attention to the behaviors, language, and faces of fans, players, and coaches understands the levels of passion, desire, and mostly healthy and temporary us-vs.-them energy that the games elicit. Of course, such passion and desire manifest in many events, venues, and ways beyond basketball or NCAA competition.
“March Madness,” is, among many things, a clever and successful branding of collegiate basketball tournaments. Merriam Webster tells us that “madness,” other than it’s ubiquitous American partnership with the third month of the year, denotes things like severe mental illness, foolish or dangerous thinking, and extreme folly. Synonyms include insanity and hysteria. So as winter turns to spring, college basketball fans, players, coaches, reporters, sponsors, and commentators choose a temporary loss of mental health in order to engage foolish thinking, extreme folly, insanity, and/or hysteria. Metaphorically speaking, of course.
Democracy Madness
Also today, on March 28, 2026, in thousands of cities and towns across America and around the world, people are gathering and marching against failing democracy in the United States and elsewhere.
Now imagine, if you will, that the energy, money, travel, advertising, enthusiasm and desire to win that we see during March Madness (and the Super Bowl, World Series, Olympics, annual shareholder meetings, and other sporting events) were channeled toward democracy.
Imagine that the billions of advertising and branding dollars spent in an attempt to get you to spend your money on insurance, fast food, pickup trucks, cars, renovations, pharmaceuticals, banks, television shows, movies, beer, personal hygiene, sports betting, household cleaning, investment advice, personal injury attorneys, private health care, dental implants, vacations, apparel, technology, and much more were spent on a concerted and collaborative effort to protect and preserve democracy for the good of all of us. All of us. And all who come after us. Our grandkids—and theirs.
Imagine if every U.S. citizen and corporation were as energized about democracy as some of us are about this or that person, team, or sport as entertainment—especially as the democratic structures that allow them and on which they rely are being dismantled by a handful of wealthy men.
Imagine if Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Eli Lilly, Amgen, Bristol-Myers-Squibb, Johnson & Johnson, Roche, Allstate, State Farm, Progressive, New Jersey Mutual, Geico, MetLife, Liberty Mutual, Chevy, Ford, GMC, Hyundai, Toyota, Jeep, Honda, McDonalds, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Jersey Mike’s, Subway, Freshpet, CoffeeMate, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, Paramount+, Peacock, Apple TV, HBO, Fox, Amazon, Netflix, Direct TV, Xfinity, Proctor & Gamble, Capital One, Fidelity, Draft Kings, Intuit, AT&T, Vrbo, and so many more were willing to put their money behind the democracy that provides the infrastructure for them to operate and profit and not just behind for-sale politicians and PACs who take contributions in exchange for specific, limited pro-industry or pro-company legislation.
Imagine the cheerleaders—dancing and jumping and shouting, and the bands— blasting their songs, for democracy. Imagine all the supporters of democracy actually being familiar with the structures, rules, and guardrails of democracy—as the fans (think they) are familiar with the rules of the games. When the democracy referees charged with creating, interpreting, and carrying out the rules get it right—for the greater good—the throngs stand and cheer for people like Jack Smith and his team. When the refs blow a call due to ignorance, arrogance, untrustworthiness, or lack of attention, all the pro-democracy participants stand, boo, and make it clear that they won’t abide another transgression, and that they will demand a change in the rules or the referees so that all the referees are held accountable for the calls they make.
Imagine all the participant-fans behaving based on their deep desire to go all the way, and win it all—when healthy, evolving democracy is the prize.
Beyond the finite games of March Madness—in which the number of teams is limited and the goal is to keep winning until the tournament ends—imagine the infinite game of democratic process in which everyone is invited to play and the goal is to keep the game going for as long as possible for the benefit of all.
Imagine again, a democratic nation in which the people understand, appreciate, invest in, and demand and work towards the health of their democracy with more energy than they do any form of entertainment—not to dismiss or deprecate the entertainment, but to put it in its appropriate place.
Salvaging, restoring, and strengthening the democratic process in the United States today is more important than who wins any tournament in any sport and every division. A healthy democracy makes the tournaments (and just about everything else we take for granted) possible. And again, it’s being dismantled.
This in no way minimizes the quality of effort, sacrifice, and hard work that every player and coach puts into their season. The triumphs and defeats in athletic arenas can be valuable preparation for what will come thereafter, especially for the vast majority of athletes who will not make their livings playing their sport.
“My heart breaks for them now.”
I’ll refer again to my alma mater as I bring this to a close, knowing that there are many other alma maters, graduates, and stories out there.
In the press conference that followed his final game as a collegiate student-athlete, Zuby Ejiofor, the Senior Co-Captain of St. John’s and the 2026 Big East Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and Scholar-Athlete of the Year had this to say as part of his reflection, through tears, in response to a reporter’s question:
“I’m a competitive player on the court, but my character is something that I pride myself on the most.”
His coach, Rick Pitino, had this to say after Zuby and teammate Dillon Mitchell left the press room:
“This team is one of the most unique teams I’ve had in 52 years. Never one argument among players, impossible, the summer and regular season. Not one potential fight, or somebody getting upset at somebody. I’ve never seen that in my 52 years, Mike.
“They’re just the greatest kids in the world. They wanted to win so badly. They were willing to do anything to try to win, and I’ll never have a team like this again with that type of attitude. I may have some good teams, but never, ever again, with this type of attitude and just incredible people, and my heart breaks for them now.”
What We Need
For our democracy to succeed, we need fierce competitors who pride themselves in their character most of all. We need to take responsibility for the broken hearts and lives that losing democracy brings, and we need to want democracy so badly that we’ll do whatever it takes to preserve and strengthen it.
We’ll end today with Queen’s performance of “We Are the Champions” at Live Aid 1985.
Illinois, Arizona, Michigan, UConn