Democracy, Undeluded?

ABSTRACT

This article critically examines Busk's Democracy in Spite of the Demos, which critiques the “categorical imperative of democracy.” Although Busk effectively challenges the commitment to value-neutral democratic procedures as the foundation for legitimate law, his alternative, curtailing powerful interests ability to manipulate voters using “socially necessary delusions,” risks establishing elite rule. This article instead proposes basic liberal rights as the normative foundation for legitimate public order and militant democracy as its most effective institutional safeguard, arguing that this combination better realizes human emancipation.

Keywords:

• Larry Alan Busk
• Democracy
• Proceduralism
• Liberalism
• Militant Democracy
• Future Generations

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Unless otherwise indicated, page numbers refer to Democracy in Spite of the Demos.

2 Reports by the V-Dem Institute and the Economist Intelligence Unit, similar institutions that monitor the health of democracy around the world, show the same downward trend.

3 It is particularly important to address this issue, given that the range of views subject to political disqualification under Busk’s program – aimed at combatting socially necessary delusions – seems significantly broader than what might typically be considered justifiable. Not all instances of ‘mass incompetence’ should warrant systematic re-education. Thus, a key question arises: how do we provide a determinate definition of what constitutes a politically pathological belief, to avoid granting elites excessive discretionary authority?

4 I thank Samuel DeCanio for suggesting this issue.

5 Rawls repeatedly makes this argument. Examples include Rawls (1999a, 494, 496; 1999b, 435-436, 439, 442; 2003, 116, 145-146, 194).

6 My Democracy despite Itself is another recent attempt to fill that gap.