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Talking It Through - Puzzles of American Democracy (Hardcover)
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Talking It Through - Puzzles of American Democracy (Hardcover)
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American democracy is commonly described as "majoritarian," but
Robert W. Bennett argues that it is more usefully understood as "an
extraordinary engine for producing conversation about public
affairs" that involves essentially the entire adult citizenry. In
Bennett's view, many central features of American democracy act as
spurs to wide-ranging conversational interaction between the
government and the governed. These included a separately elected
executive, bicameralism, federalism, localism, single-member
legislative districts, and heightened constitutional protection for
speech and the press. Bennett asserts that the resulting democratic
conversation plays an important role in holding the entire nation
together and in inducing fidelity on the part of citizens to
actions taken in its name.Bennett's groundbreaking conversational
account also illuminates facets of American democracy which, he
says, have heretofore "been blurry, if visible at all." He focuses
on four puzzles of American democracy that can be "solved" through
his approach. These are: lack of concern about the apportionment of
the United States Senate; inattention to the anomalous political
treatment of children; the perceived "counter-majoritarianism" of
judicial review in enforcement of the U.S. Constitution; and the
much-discussed paradox of voting: why do so many citizens vote when
their individual ballots have almost no chance of changing election
outcomes? Bennett also treats methodological questions of just what
makes theories of complex social phenomena (like American
democracy) more or less successful.
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