“I know what’s wrong with America, and it can all be explained inside the public school bus,” declared Michael Smerconish at the beginning of his Sunday, July 14 keynote at the 2024 BOMA International Conference & Expo. The celebrated author, radio host and television personality brought his balanced, independent perspective to the BOMA attendees with an engaging and thought-provoking presentation on today’s political arena and the implications of the worsening polarization in politics.
According to Smerconish, today more than half of American kids are being driven to school in a private vehicle rather than riding the bus. “In some school districts, they’re paying parents to drive their kids to school. I say, rest in peace, Bus No. 5,” he said, explaining how much he learned about social interaction, friendship and respect from riding the bus to public school.
“Viewed in a vacuum, the fact that fewer kids today are being driven to public school on a school bus is meaningless, but I see it as part of a much larger and troublesome picture,” Smerconish said. “When parents drive their kids to school in lieu of the school bus, it’s one less opportunity for unstructured play, social interaction and personal growth. We’re living in an era of disconnect and conflict. It has paralyzed our nation… and harmed the mental health of our youth.”
What does this mean for commercial real estate? It turns out that adults are also increasingly isolated—and CRE can play a role in lessening the divide.
How Did We Become So Polarized?
There are several key factors that contributed to the political polarization gripping the United States, Smerconish said:
- Lack of campaign finance reform
- Gerrymandering
- Closed primaries
- Cable news pursuing ratings and revenue instead of balance
“There’s something else taking place among us—self-sorting,” Smerconish added. “People are living near and associating with the like-minded.” Landslide counties—counties in which the margin in the presidential race is 20 or more points—are on the rise, he noted. Of the roughly 3,000 counties in the United States, there were 391 in the 1980 presidential race and 1,726 in 2020. “This isn’t something that the politicians are doing to us, because county boundary lines don’t change—they’re fixed,” Smerconish said. “This is something we’re doing to ourselves.”
Technology is helping people do this to themselves, he argued. “Social media is an accelerant poured on the embers of the polarization I’m describing,” Smerconish said. “They call it connectivity, but it’s actually disconnecting us.”
What Can Commercial Real Estate Do to Help?
It’s clear that to end polarization, we need to combat this self-sorting behavior. Meet the Mingle Project—both Smerconish’s diagnosis and prescription for the problem. Americans need to mingle more, and commercial real estate is ready to come to the rescue.
People need to mix—at local sporting events, live entertainment, volunteering and, crucially, at work. “We have got to physically get back to work,” Smerconish said. “Office buildings are a place where we mingle. Twenty-two million Americans are fully remote, and guess what they’re missing? They’re missing a work buddy. They’re missing a lunch partner, someone to go to happy hour with. A potential for office romance.”
The share of workers who know their coworkers on a personal level was 80% before the pandemic and has dropped to 67%, according to the The Wall Street Journal. “We have lost so much as a society because so many are working remotely,” Smerconish said.
Buildings are a destination where people can mingle once again, Smerconish added. Commercial real estate holds one of the keys to getting people back together.
“Let’s all go forth and mingle,” he urged.
