By 2006, the central issues surrounding the idea of “democracy,” were front and center, raised by the Bush administration’s response to 9/11. These issues included the foundational question of government of, by, and for the people, versus authoritarianism or domination, questions of legitimacy, questions of who are “the people,” who belongs to the body politic, matters of equal citizenship, that is, in what sense all human beings can be considered equally citizens or agents together of their common life, issues of ongoing governance, that is and succession, and a host of others related to counterfeit versions of democracy, democracy “at the point of a gun.”
Fundamental Commitment to Democracy: Virtuous Certainty, Authority, and the Moral Passion of Skepticism
- By Bruce Woll