Deliberative Democracy…and the Tea Party

Posted on | October 30, 2010 | No Comments

As I was browsing the web, I found yet another small discussion of deliberative democracy; here’s a small excerpt:

Deliberative democracy stems from the belief that democratic leadership should involve educating constituents about issues at hand, and that citizens may significantly alter their opinions when faced with information about these issues. Advocates of the approach state that democracy should shift away from fixed notions toward a learning process in which people develop defensible positions.⁵ While the approaches of the Center for Deliberative Democracy, America Speaks, and the Consensus Building Institute do differ, all of these deliberative methodologies involve unbiased sharing of information and public-policy alternatives with a representative set of citizens; a moderated process of deliberation among the selected citizens; and the collection and dissemination of data resulting from this process.

Source: http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2010-10-25/promise-deliberative-democracy

It all sounds so good, deliberative, rational..and then there’s a rally to restore honor, another one to restore sanity, the Tea Party etc. – so what’s going on? I find this somewhat puzzling – is it not? The promise of more direct, deliberative democracy seems to be on the rise with the developpment of the Web 2.0; yet, at the same time, you also seem to have more and more virulent and irrational forms of political expression.

..or are these two just two sides of the same coin: the reemergence of direct democracy? I guess you can’t have your cake and eat it too..

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