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Accessible Democracy

April 28, 2008

Rather than reinvent it, American democracy needs to be understood. Traditionally, democracy has been taught as "one person-one vote" or "majority rules." But, more importantly, democracy is a never-ending process that codifies the humble insight that people are flawed and they aspire to be better. To make democracy more accessible, see where, why, and how that fits.

First, here is why democracy is compelling. In the animal kingdom, right and wrong do not exist, which means power and luck substitute for justice. Anxious to rise above the law of the jungle, people seek to create a minimal compelling framework of behavior to deal with one another. Mother Nature does not care whether mankind manufactures such civil society, but we certainly do, for our own safety and for that of our unimaginably distant descendants.

Useful tools to establish a durable framework are few. Religion, cultural tradition, family values, or other beliefs don't convince outsiders without the use of force. Fortunately, one foundation does exist upon which society can be manufactured. Individual experience is all that is necessary, and once that is understood, what is important to the individual applies to journalism, and also to society. All three are like concentric circles. From the most varied individual experience, regardless of cultural differences, a simple mind experiment can deduce the same small set of understandings that lead to society and the advantage of democracy.

The experiment goes like this: Recall in your own past an instance when you thought you were correct but were painfully mistaken. People who examine the subject of their own experience readily observe that individual mental maps of reality, from which future plans are made, can be silently flawed. The humble truth is that sometimes we think we are right for no other reason than that we think we are right. We learn to doubt, recognize that others doubt, and realize that interaction with others can help minimize that doubt. The quality of our future plans depends on the accuracy of our map of reality, so we turn to society with others to detect and, where possible, correct each other's silent flaws. Like ships alone in a storm-tossed sea, there is reciprocal value to lash together our inquiring minds into more stable society, using humility and reciprocity as the common threads. While not universal, humility and respect can be treated as if they are since they invariably result from such introspection.

Democracy codifies, at the level of society, the same humility that springs from individual doubt. Like for an individual, democracy doesn't presume to get everything right. Therefore, it embraces unfettered freedom of speech because even the least of us may suggest a better way, and work to convince others of it. Allowing one to say what someone may not wish to hear is a bedrock requirement for society. Nevertheless, the freedom to offend does not imply the necessity to do so. Democracy commits to a process of peaceful problem resolution amongst those who, by their actions agree to abide by it. If humility and respect are missing at the edge where two cultures meet, it acts like a friend-or-foe detector to warn when society is at risk.

Democracy as humility and respect is easier to explain given today's richer language, visual examples, expanded history, and increased urgency. Why urgency? Because science has put such power in the hands of any who care to learn enough to use it that we can no longer insulate ourselves from each other:

• Language is richer. Ancient Greece used the single word "polis" to mean both "society" and "culture." Limited to "polis," Socrates' philosophy confused the two concepts. Society is the edge where one person interacts with another or one culture interacts with another. The distinction lets people establish a minimum framework for civility and escape moral relativism and its irreconcilable differences.
• Visual examples like computers and television help master recursive, process-oriented feedback systems, of which democracy is one.
• History shows that all it takes is a change of mind to master a better way of looking at things. Over the span of a century in the 1300s, linear perspective ˜ or point of view ˜ migrated from painting, through literature, into everyday thought for people to see their world more accurately.
• Finally, science has put us in a race between civilization and annihilation with no guarantee civilization will win. If humanity is to survive at all, it falls to us to manufacture civility across religious, cultural, or family boundaries.

What is interesting about logic is that if you master logic, it masters you. It becomes compelling. No amount of saying "two plus two equals five" will ever make it so. Understanding the logic of democracy and the cornerstones of humility and respect leads to the courage to stand up for it. This is important because the race for civilization has yet to be won. Democracy is a never-ending process that offers an opportunity, not the answer. It demands we exercise tools for thought:

• Education needs to be reclaimed from the mastery of subjects to emphasize the critical thinking behind them, including Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric ˜ known as the Trivium of the Seven Liberal Arts.
• Rhetoric needs to be reclaimed from the Art of Persuasion to become the Art of Coming to Understand.
• Character needs to be reclaimed from learning the vocabulary of virtue to the hard work of imagining sensible future conduct from experience.

As Ancient Babylon is revered for establishing order, Ancient China for society, Ancient Greece for methods of inquiry, Ancient Rome for civil law, and, more recently, Europe for science and enlightenment, early Americans fashioned democratic processes from hard experience. While we are not all Greek, Hellenic ideas belong to everyone. Likewise, America does not impose itself on the world, but the American democratic experience is a hard-won, valuable gift, freely given to humanity's succeeding generations. Under humble and respectful stewardship, democracy can lift society above the rest of the animal kingdom. Then the 21st century will distinguish society from culture and wrest civilization from anarchy.

If we succeed, our offspring in the unimaginably distant future will look back with pride that we fashioned a protective umbrella of peaceful problem resolution open to all who choose by their actions to live under it. Mankind will have learned to be forever gentle with others.

[Hat tip to: Jacob Bronowski, Robert Heilbronner, Richard Mitchell, and Dorothy Sayers]

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