January 12, 2006
According to the advocates of deliberative democracy, citizens' participation in the democratic process has a rational character. Deliberative democracy explains the process of opinion and will-formation as a public discursive activity where citizens are engaged in argumentation that is aimed at promoting the more generalizable interests by the force of a better argument.
What has happened to freedom? Freedom to shape things? Freedom to decide between different policy options? Isn't discussion and debate a step in the process of arguing for this policy option rather than that? For more money to spent on health care as opposed to tax cuts for the wealthy? And that involves negotiating and deal making.
What has happened to power. It's rarely the case that the better argument wins the debate. People listen to your argument when you hold the balance of power in the Senate.
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I think deliberative democracy is an industrial era response to impure democratic nature of representative systems. The Imagining Australia folks want a Deliberative Day (to replace the Queens Birthday).
I dont think it is a good idea. Civic involvement and education would be better served with sortitionists/ratifiers IMNSHO. We have the technology now (juries) and much of the population is as educated as a parliamentarian.
The world has moved to a systems mode of thought. Even terrorism is a systems repsonse to warfare. Sortitionists are more systems aware than deliberation days are.