Deliberation DayTwo leading political thinkers offer an audacious proposal to energize the electoral process Bruce Ackerman and James Fishkin argue that Americans can revitalize their democracy and break the cycle of cynical media manipulation that is crippling public life. They propose a new national holiday--Deliberation Day--for each presidential election year. On this day people throughout the country will meet in public spaces and engage in structured debates about issues that divide the candidates in the upcoming presidential election. Deliberation Day isa bold new proposal, but it builds on a host of smaller experiments. Over the past decade, Fishkin has initiated Deliberative Polling events in the United States and elsewhere that bring random and representative samples of voters together for discussion of key political issues. In these events, participants greatly increase their understanding of the issues and often change their minds on the best course of action. Deliberation Day isnot merely a novel idea but a feasible reform. Ackerman and Fishkin consider the economic, organizational, and political questions raised by their proposal and explore its relationship to the larger ideals of liberal democracy. |
Contents
Imagine | 3 |
The Holiday | 17 |
From ThoughExperiments to Real Experiments | 40 |
Cycles of Virtue | 75 |
Extending the Paradigm | 97 |
What Price Deliberation? | 120 |
DELIBERATION AND DEMOCRACY | 147 |
The Problem of Mass Democracy | 149 |
Other editions - View all
Deliberation Day Bruce A. Ackerman,James S. Fishkin,Professor of Communication James S Fishkin No preview available - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
activists agenda Americans argument ballot basic Bruce Ackerman campaign candidates caucus Center challenge Chapter choice citizen assembly civic holiday confront Congress Day consider constitutional context contrast conversation costs DDay decision Deliberation Day deliberative democracy Deliberative Poll democracy democratic dialogue direct democracy discussion economic effort Election Day electoral engage estimate experience face-to-face federal Fishkin focus group focused format incentives increase incumbents initiative institutional Iowa caucuses James Fishkin jury leaders Luskin Madison major mass ment million participants moderator National Election Study National Issues National Issues Forums ordinary citizens organizing party percent political politicians presidential Presidents Day problem proposal public opinion questions random sample referendum representatives Republican respondents Robert Luskin Senate serious sessions significant small groups social sound bites Statistics stipend suggest supra note televised debate tens of millions tion turnout vote voters weekend