Harry C Boyte

President Bush’s enthusiasm for democracy’s advance abroad challenges us to take seriously the development of democracy in America. Democracy isn’t only about elections, constitutions, and institutions — it’s also about the democratic development of the people. If, as William Hastie, the first black federal judge, put it, “democracy is a journey not a destination,” then we haven’t arrived and should not self-righteously lecture the world on the topic. America ought to advance democracy again at home. Growing incivility, campaigns that treat citizens as consumers and increasing divisions along economic and partisan lines weaken democracy. Democracy in America meant the creation of a people with the skills to get things done and the confidence, power, and knowledge to advance toward “a more perfect union.” The nation’s founders frequently voiced such sentiments. One tough-minded argument for citizen development came in 1787 from the anonymous Letter No. 4 of the Federal Farmer. It said activities such as jury duty encouraged citizens “to acquire information in the affairs and government of the society, and to come forward, in turn, as the sentinels and guardians of each other.”

Citizenship education was the first mission of public schools, and it prom-pted the creation of public universities. Democratic development of the people became a function of the civic culture. Alexis de Tocqueville was amazed to find log cabins on the prairies filled with Shakespeare and books like Gibbon’s “Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire.” In the 20th century, civic uplift animated Jane Addams’s immigrant settlement houses, women’s reading clubs, and adult education. The 1960s’ civil rights struggle built on a vibrant culture of civic development in black churches, schools, beauty parlors, and other settings. Democratic people-hood was summed up by the term commonwealth. Four states are officially commonwealths, but the term isn’t just a form of government. Commonwealth means becoming a democratic people as we undertake the practical work involved in creating and taking care of the things we have in common. Democratic development and the commonwealth are missing from President Bush’s ownership society. Plans to privatise parts of Social Security and abolish the estate tax focus on “me” rather than “we.” These ideas are also absent from the Democrats’ message. The Clinton administration’s “reinventing government” programme redefined citizens as government’s “customers.” In a dubious sign of progress, at a recent retreat of congressional Democrats, University of California linguist George Lakoff argued that the liberal message should be “government as nurturant parent.” His framework turns citizens into children.

America’s genius is its democratic spirit. Millions of citizens became active in the 2004 election for the first time because of their desire to turn the country around. Most saw the campaign as a beginning, not an end; but the nation remains sharply divided. To take the next steps, it is necessary to remember earlier meanings of democracy, and to forge public relationships across the “blue-red” divide to revitalise democracy as a way of life, not simply an election every four years. — The Christian Science Monitor