Dewey: democracy as a way of life
9 Feb. 2006

•	democracy as a way of life versus democracy as a political system
•	the latter merely a means to the end of the former
•	if the latter is itself the goal, this is a form of idolatry
•	the keynote of democracy as a way of life:  “the necessity for the participation of every mature human being in formation of the values that regulate the living of men together:  which is necessary from the standpoint of both the general social welfare and the full development of human beings as individuals” (537).
•	“…no man or limited set of men is wise enough or good enough to rule others without their consent.”  Therefore, “all those who are affected by social institutions must have a share in producing and managing them” (537).
•	by contrast, non-democratic social arrangements involve physical or non-physical coercion.  The latter is more subtle and effective than the former.  “The mass usually become unaware that they have a claim to a development of their own powers.  Their experience is so restricted that they are not conscious of restriction” (538).  (Ideology.)
•	democracy founded in faith in human intelligence, in the view that everyone has sufficient intelligence to make some contribution to the production and management of social institutions.  Indeed, no one know better than those “on the bottom” what problems those on the bottom face.  
•	education:  participating in democracy makes one better at participating in democracy.  Contributing one’s views improves one’s views.  To cultivate a truly democratic society is to cultivate the intelligence of the members of that society (and therefore their ability to contribute to the society).  …a “virtuous circle”?
•	equality:  not the view that all have equal abilities, but the view that are entitled to the same right to develop their capacities.
•	freedom in democracy:  not the right to do as one pleases but “freedom of mind and of whatever degree of freedom of action and experience is necessary to produce freedom of intelligence” (539).
•	how much control should governments exert?  This is debatable.  What is not debatable is that the less the constituents feel that they are contributing to the government of society, the more alienated they are from it, the less they care about it.  This is an injustice to the individual, and a loss to society at large that can only benefit from increasing individuals’ participation.
•	wherever democracy has fallen, it has been too exclusively political in nature.