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Citizens, political theorists, and politicians alike insist that
political or partisan motives get in the way of real democracy.
Real democracy, we are convinced, is embodied by an ability to form
collective judgments in the interest of the whole. The Rhetorical
Surface of Democracy: How Deliberative Ideals Undermine Democratic
Politics, by Scott Welsh, argues instead that it is our easy
rejection of political motives, individual interests, and the
rhetorical pursuit of power that poses the greatest danger to
democracy. Our rejection of politics understood as a rhetorical
contest for power is dangerous because democracy ultimately rests
upon the perceived public legitimacy of public, political
challenges to authority and the subsequent reconstitution of
authority amid the impossibility of collective judgment. Hence,
rather than searching for allegedly more authentic democracy,
rooted in the pursuit of ever-illusive collective judgments, we
must find ways to come to terms with the persistence of rhetorical,
political contests for power as the essence of democracy itself.
Welsh argues that the impossibility of any kind of public judgment
is the fact that democracy must face. Given the impossibility of
public judgment, rhetorical competitions for political power are
not merely poor substitutes for an allegedly more authentic
democratic practice, but constitute the essence of democracy
itself. The Rhetorical Surface of Democracy is an iconoclastic
investigation of the democratic process and public discourse.
Citizens, political theorists, and politicians alike insist that
political or partisan motives get in the way of real democracy.
Real democracy, we are convinced, is embodied by an ability to form
collective judgments in the interest of the whole. The Rhetorical
Surface of Democracy: How Deliberative Ideals Undermine Democratic
Politics, by Scott Welsh, argues instead that it is our easy
rejection of political motives, individual interests, and the
rhetorical pursuit of power that poses the greatest danger to
democracy. Our rejection of politics understood as a rhetorical
contest for power is dangerous because democracy ultimately rests
upon the perceived public legitimacy of public, political
challenges to authority and the subsequent reconstitution of
authority amid the impossibility of collective judgment. Hence,
rather than searching for allegedly more authentic democracy,
rooted in the pursuit of ever-illusive collective judgments, we
must find ways to come to terms with the persistence of rhetorical,
political contests for power as the essence of democracy itself.
Welsh argues that the impossibility of any kind of public judgment
is the fact that democracy must face. Given the impossibility of
public judgment, rhetorical competitions for political power are
not merely poor substitutes for an allegedly more authentic
democratic practice, but constitute the essence of democracy
itself. The Rhetorical Surface of Democracy is an iconoclastic
investigation of the democratic process and public discourse.
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