It has been hard not to notice the drama of the ballroom project being constructed where the East Room of the White House once stood.
As an example of executive action unrestrained by normal checks and balances and unguided by relevant policies and procedures, it has apparently forged ahead at an accelerated pace, to the point that legal efforts to change course seem unlikely. The guardrails designed to prevent such unitary action without appropriate consultation seem to have failed, having been ignored.
So, it looks as though we may get a ballroom, complete with all its features of finery, suitable for entertaining people who are entitled to such extravagance. It will stand as a reminder to our national family and to the world of where our priorities are. And it is one among many such indicators.
If a gilded ballroom is inevitable, the argument can continue whether it is a symbol of greatness or an embarrassment. It will still be there, and the larger question is, “What might be an appropriate and creative long-term response to the fact that we have it as part of the White House complex?”
Here is a modest proposal: A different president and a different Congress could initiate and authorize a transformation of the facility’s use, with its large, well-constructed space and its much-touted secure bunker.
With cooperative effort by the legislative and executive branches, and careful alignment with what the courts might approve, it could shift from a “ballroom” for the well-heeled and powerful to display and enjoy their status to a “people’s room.” There, an educational focus on civics and citizenship could give school children at all levels opportunities to visit and learn about the functions of government, its possibilities, and its limitations.
Programs and interactive engagements with governmental personnel could fill a void that has become increasingly evident in recent years. A lack of knowledge about what our system is and can do has led to exploitation of that gap and the growth of unconstitutional weeds in the garden of our national life.
Such an educational center could provide satellite settings to reach other parts of the country, broadening the base of the educational opportunity. Programming could be distributed through public television. Educators could receive training on how to expand and deepen students’ understanding of how our system works and how they can aspire to be actively engaged in it.
I realize, of course, many of these themes are already a part of the good work that teachers do. This suggestion would highlight and support that good work and give it the prominence it deserves.
I also realize suggestions like this one are often worth the paper or screen they are printed on. But it’s hard for me to think of anything more appropriate for an addition to what is often referred to as “the people’s house” than a “people’s room” devoted to nourishing the best of what “we the people” can mean as a national community—no matter what that room started out as.
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Professor emeritus of religious studies at Mercer University, a member of Smoke Rise Baptist Church in Stone Mountain, Georgia, and the author of Keys for Everyday Theologians (Nurturing Faith Books, 2022).