Conversation

Gen X is last generation to have a widespread interest in democracy as a truly interesting idea capable of opening up new human conditions less expressive political systems cannot get to. Millennials believe/disbelieve in it as a matter of values. Z’s seem to have given up on it
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I genuinely consider democracy, broadly construed, to be a strictly more expressive class of mechanisms than any other. It is like Peano arithmetic relative to say propositional logic or first order calculus. It can run programs other systems can’t.
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I think it is also a symptom of at least serious subclinical depression. It takes a certain level of mental health to find democracy retreating, since most other systems offer a degree of mental health support in exchange for sacrificing agency.
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Kinda like how people who have an anxiety-provoking lack of structure in their lives tend to join the military or institutional religions. Believing democracy is bad or a failed idea is kinda like believing everybody should join the military or convert to a religion.
Gen X witnessed the fall of the wall and a genuine if short-lived expansion of democracy. There’s a reason Fukuyama’s argument resonated so strongly then. It might have been the last such expansion. The democratic recession could easily last the rest of our lives.
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I find discussions of “no true democracy,” direct vs indirect, republic vs pure, to be tedious and nerdy distractions for those tempted by other things. As far as I’m concerned, boundary of democratic models is not set by idealized forms or mechanisms but a broad disposition...
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...created by the urge to recognize all humans as humans and be recognized as such in turn. The democratic disposition stands opposed to the dehumanization instinct in any form. In all other aspects it can be unbelievably messy and still work. This is why to be democratic is...
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... to be suspicious of political ideologies rooted in specific ideals. To cherish an ideal is to venerate those who embody it best, and dehumanize those who don’t. It doesn’t matter whether that ideal is divinity, nobility, merit, etc... to venerate X is to dehumanize not-X
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The democratic disposition is tested most when you ask yourself if you’re willing to acknowledge humanity in its most corrupt, debased, stupid, weak, even evil individual manifestations. And of course in people very unlike yourself. This does not mean liking/relating to them...
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The democratic disposition is not a saintly or expansively ecumenical disposition. You can freely detest anybody and hold them in deep contempt. You can even be utterly misanthropic and hate everybody and still be democratic spirited. Seeing the humanity in others != liking them
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To be democratic is to recognize that others have as much right to exist as you, despite their flaws (from your POV). As do you, despite all your flaws from their POV. Perfection, perfectibility, or conformity to others’ ideas of goodness/worth is not necessary for you to exist
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This leads naturally to a certain pacifism, a certain tendency to limit your own urges to dominate others, resistance to any impulse towards terminal destruction of others, and minimalism in defense of yourself against such tendencies on the part of others
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Humans are capable of being monsters. Democracy is how you secure your own existence without letting monstrousness in others unleash monstrousness in you. Because seeing others only as monsters, with no humanity, is the beginning of turning into one yourself.
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I personally extend my democratic disposition to all animals, so I’m vegetarian. But I do eat plants. So my generalized principle of democracy is that there are only 3 ways to relate to another living thing: eat it, accept the legitimacy of being eaten by it, or let it vote.
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While I’ll do my best to avoid being eaten by a shark, I accept the possibility as part of the natural order of things. I’m fair game for sharks, potatoes are fair game for me.
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