democratic communities
... See moreRather than trying to restore an elusive consensus, I propose that we strengthen institutions of contestation. Our problem, in other words, is not that we have forgotten how much Americans have in common, but that we have undermined or abandoned structures and organizations that express and embody disagreement. Political parties, labor unions, and
But Lincoln also drew a clear distinction between the unjust real world and the ideal, between the descriptive and the prescriptive. He explained that, while the writers of the Declaration of Independence were not in a position to bestow equality on all people (“they could not confer such a boon”), the founders nevertheless defined “with tolerable
... See moreLaura K. Field • Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right
the importance of horizontal, rather than vertical structures; the need for initiatives to rise up from relatively small, self-organized, autonomous groups rather than being conveyed downwards through chains of command; the rejection of permanent, named leadership structures
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Anne Applebaum’s Twilight of Democracy is another deeply instructive study of the illiberal drift of so many democracies across the globe.3 However, like so many others, Applebaum’s view proceeds from a default assumption that democracy is a discrete system. But that assumption prevents us from understanding democracy as a constantly evolving
... See moreZac Gershberg • The Paradox of Democracy
democracies are defined by their cultures of communication. If a democracy consists of citizens deciding, collectively, what ought to be done, then the manner through which they persuade one another determines nearly everything else that follows. And that privileges media ecology as the master political science.
Zac Gershberg • The Paradox of Democracy
Equality means the right to a life without poverty and its many ills, without discrimination—the opportunity for all people “to realize their full potential and dignity as human beings.”
George Packer • Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal
“Feelings and ideas are renewed, the heart enlarged, and the understanding developed only by the reciprocal action of men one upon another.”
George Packer • Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal
“Nothing is more wonderful than the art of being free,” Tocqueville wrote, “but nothing is harder to learn how to use than freedom.” To acquire the art of self-government, he believed, citizens have to be together. They have to come out of the isolation of their individualism and experience government at a level local enough that it brings them
... See moreGeorge Packer • Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal
Democracy is a system of feelings. Citizens must feel included. When those feelings collapse, no procedural reform can restore legitimacy. Lilliana Mason, in Uncivil Agreement , demonstrates how partisan identity fuses with emotion, producing politics of anger and disdain. Liberals mistake this terrain for irrational noise, but illiberals treat it... See more