“American Democracy: The Dialectical Exchange of the Citizenry in Action”
Written by Ben Bussewitz
— The Meaning of American Democracy
The dialectical exchange of the citizenry in action involves
all the citizens, and also, the governing representatives (who are also classed
as equal citizens)— moreover, it involves all the people of the country,
including non-natives and travelers, immigrants and those otherwise classed as
non-American civilians. The many, who
the people in office represent, as those citizens of the country channel their
will to the governing body. The people voice what they wish for the government
to take part in and put into action, first, by talking in different mediums of
communication amongst one another and throughout the platforms and mouthpieces
of the socio-symbolic public arena.
Thereafter, the people are capable of channeling their directives and
aspirations through various means, for instance, in phone calls directly,
through petitions, at town-hall gatherings, etc. (the tools of democracy) to
their representatives who carry forth their will into action.
In a democracy, the people are in charge of governing the
country. In the representative democracy
of America, it is central and essential for the people of the nation to voice
their will, their hopes, opinions, persuasions, ambitions, aspirations, so on,
to the governing body. With this kind of
civic engagement in place, the U.S. government can then act to carry out the
will of the U.S. people (those whom they represent).
— True Democracy In Action
Democracy entails the cultivation of a critical citizenry,
what the ancient Greeks referred to as paideia—a body politic
characterized by citizens who are inquisitive, who reach their own independent
judgements on issues and ideas through thoughtful, evaluative reflection and
processing of information, who do not conform to the stances or opinions of
others, but rather, reach their own conclusions through autonomous analysis of
variegated considerations, who think for themselves, trust themselves, and rely
on themselves; moreover, the noble tradition of paideia incorporates
the vital importance for the citizenry to exhibit upstanding moral character
and virtue. This involves that fundamental concept of justice—valuing the
dignity of all people, being open to cross-cultural perspectives, behaving with
a cosmopolitan mentality, heeding and taking into consideration voices of
difference, and most importantly, upholding the two greatest commandments.
Democracy furthermore entails the utilization of courageous speech, what the
ancient Greeks referred to as parrhesia, which can be characterized
by standing up and boldly speaking the truth, even if it goes against the
grain, mustering up the confidence to speak truth to power while staring in the
face of corrupt, mendacious, and powerful political institutions, utilizing
speech to burrow down to the heart of issues in order to expose truth, to
disseminate knowledge and wisdom.
With an informed and critical citizenry (paideia)
engaged in robust and meaningful democratic exchange (parrhesia), the
totality of the polity (demos) can collectively carry out governance (kratos)
in the mode of civic genius. Democracy comes from the Greek
roots demos, the people, and kratos, govern.
Civic genius is the collaborative, collective
democratic undertaking of forging the identity of who we are as a nation, as we
the people—establishing with clarity the roots of our ideological creeds,
outlining our long and complex shared history, celebrating our melting pot of
ethnic and cultural heritages, conscientiously giving testimony to, working
through, and mourning our nation’s traumas, determining our nation’s place in
the international order, sharing pride in our nation’s virtues and
accomplishments while also taking stock of the litany of our nation’s ills and
woes... together as a people, engaging in constructive, respectful democratic
discourse in which we flesh out and come to a mutual understanding in regards
to our nation’s collective consciousness, in which, through inquiry, dialogue,
reflection, and debate and compromise where debate and compromise are needed,
we shed light on this communal phenomenon of what it means to be a U.S.
citizen. The act of civic genius goes even farther than that venture.
Through robust, respectful, constructive democratic exchange, we the people,
come to identify our predominate values, our top priorities, our most paramount
initiatives and endeavors. And we the people determine how we ought to function
as a nation, as a cohesive unit, as a living machine of living parts—what kinds
of policies we ought to endorse, what type of legislation is appropriate, how
we can manage and overcome our nation's problems to ultimately develop into a
more safe, prosperous, conscientious, and domestically and internationally
responsible nation, how we can blossom in harmony and interconnectedness while
learning from and empathizing with our fellow citizens, transforming into more
fulfilled, ethical, and well-rounded citizens due to our democratic
interactions, and how we can create a more peaceful, peace-oriented, and
peace-centered human family, by opening our arms as a peoples to greater global
cooperation, collaboration, and community, along with a greater global
mentality and ethos, while cultivating more faithful peace of mind. All in all,
in partaking in the act of civic genius, we, as a peoples, envision
and create what U.S. life and U.S. society ought to entail.
In a nutshell, how democracy theoretically can straightforwardly be understood in the U.S. is a paideia utilizing parrhesia to collectively carry out civic genius.
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