Oct 30 2023
Finding Common Ground on Democracy
How is American democracy doing, and what can we do to improve it, if necessary? This is clearly a question of political science, and I am not a political scientist, and this is not a political blog. But there are some basic principles of critical thinking that might apply, and the second word in “political science” is “science”. Further, while this is not a political blog, what that really means is that I endeavor to be non-partisan. I am not trying to advocate for any particular party or ideological group. But many of the issues I discuss have a political dimension, because most issues do. Global warming is a scientific question, but there are massive political consequences, for example.
So if you will indulge me, I want to apply some basic critical thinking principles to some pressing questions regarding our democracy. My goal is to see if we can find some common ground. This is something I frequently recommend in many contexts – if you are trying to convince someone that a particular belief of theirs is pseudoscience, a good place to start is to establish some common ground and then proceed from there. Otherwise you will likely be talking past each other.
Also, despite the fact that we seem to be having increasing partisan division in this country, my sense is that we still have much more common ground than may be apparent. The media and politicians both benefit from emphasizing division, conflict, and differences. Keeping everyone as outraged and agitated as possible maximizes clicks and votes. Both polling and personal experience, if you look beyond the surface level, also tell a story of common ground. Most common-sense positions are supported by large majorities. Most people want basically the same things – safety, prosperity, liberty, transparency and fairness. This is not to minimize the very real different value judgements that exist in society. This is why we need democracy to work out compromises.