This article proposes that the American Political Science Association (APSA) create an “Exploring Public Issues” program to assist libraries, museums, community organizations, and schools in finding political science speakers and classroom resources that articulate different perspectives on important public issues in an engaging manner. Although the program would not be especially high profile, if it succeeded, it might be a significant help in building appreciation and support for the political science profession over time. Many of the scholars who created the discipline of political science in the early twentieth century hoped that it would become a venue through which academic works and their creators would directly inform governmental policy making, as in Germany (Ross Reference Ross1991). However, as historians from Richard Hofstadter to Daniel Rodgers have shown, many Americans have always been wary of being governed by intellectuals, especially left-leaning intellectuals (perhaps for good reason) (Hofstadter Reference Hofstadter1996; Rodgers Reference Rodgers1998). This long-standing feature of American life today is compounded by a highly polarized political climate and mounting criticism of higher education in general, including President Obama’s demand that colleges and universities prove they are worth their high price tags. As a result, engagement with the American public in ways that can increase esteem and support for the work of political scientists may need to include what can be perceived as a revival of John Dewey’s conception of the social science vocation (Dewey Reference Dewey1934). That conception calls for regular, direct, grassroots democratic engagement with and service to many groups in many communities, in ways that can gradually heighten appreciation for the value of political science in American life.

More specifically, there are at least four reasons why the enhanced local engagement that an APSA “Exploring Public Issues” program would provide is advisable, as follows:

1. 1. Although research on the topic is minimal, experience suggests that much of the public does not have a clear sense of what political science is or what political scientists do. Relatively few people think of political science as generating useful insights on public issues. Many of those who do have a sense of the discipline suspect that political scientists advance only predictable liberal positions. Consequently, they do not view the discipline as a resource for their own understanding of politics or as a means to solve public problems. Change in this regard is likely to take more than an improvement in the discipline’s presence in the national media or more accessible scholarship. In time, the public perception of political science may improve if political scientists come to be regarded throughout the country as convenient, cooperative sources of interesting, informative, and diverse perspectives on important public matters.

2. 2. The widespread dissatisfaction with severe polarization in American politics has resulted in much of the public wanting to hear and to participate in thoughtful civil discussions in which different viewpoints are well represented. I have attended various events in Philadelphia hosted by liberal, conservative, and officially nonpartisan organizations in recent years. I have found that audiences are inclined to appreciate programs simply because proponents of contrasting perspectives engaged with one another in courteous, thoughtful, and informative discussion. If political scientists were perceived as regularly assisting Americans to communicate constructively across ideological divides, there might be less political opposition to their support.

3. 3. It also is likely that many in the American public place greater value on the contributions that political scientists make as teachers (and, admittedly, credential awarders) of their children than they assign to our contributions as research scholars. Schools and teachers throughout the country also have rapidly increasing capacities to utilize video and other electronic media in instruction, with the accompanying desire for valuable media to present. If timely, high-quality classroom resources generated by political scientists became a more visible and frequent part of K–12 and higher education coursework, more American parents might accept that the contributions of political science are essential to modern education.

4. 4. Public libraries, museums, community groups, and schools are receptive to hosting events that feature speakers or, in more remote regions, video resources on public issues, and they often are adept at attracting community audiences. As newspapers on both coasts report, libraries are being transformed dramatically, becoming “bustling community centers” with rising numbers of visitors—including attendees at events that focus on contemporary political issues (Seelye Reference Seelye2014). For example, in 2005, public meeting rooms at the Bellevue, Washington, Library hosted more than 500 different groups and sometimes more than 300 meetings a month (Valdes Reference Valdes2007). In 2012, the Urban Libraries Council—an association of more than 130 public libraries in the United States and Canada serving 190 million people—issued a report titled Civic Engagement: Stepping up to the Civic Engagement Challenge that, citing Robert Putnam, explicitly called for libraries to host many more “conversation-starter” events on public issues (Urban Libraries Council 2012). The libraries are joined by a multitude of other types of organizations—from public and private historical museums to business associations to religious bodies to civic-service groups—that seek to sustain participation by occasionally offering programs on political topics.

However, most libraries, museums, and civic groups want the discussions they present to be civil, accessible, reasonably entertaining, and fairly representative of different viewpoints on issues that are likely held by different segments of their community. As the Urban Libraries Council stated in its report, “Ensuring balanced perspectives among presenters will facilitate a balanced conversation”(Urban Libaries Council 2012, 21–22). Many organizations believe that as long as they are not unduly polemical, programs that feature effective proponents of different viewpoints will be most compelling for their audiences. If the APSA were perceived as an accessible contact point to locate speakers and videos as resources for events and classroom teaching, the result might be an expanded civil-society network of organizations and leaders who regard the political science profession as a major asset to their endeavors.