Democratic Philosophy, Out Loud and Proud

How good it is, to see and hear American political leaders, candidates and pundits speak out forcefully on behalf of democratic political philosophy, in opposition to the authoritarian creed which has divided and diminished our nation.

Most recently, our Nobel Laureate economist and columnist Paul Krugman expressed it in a post he titled, "The Social Contract."

In that post he pointed to a video of Senatorial candidate Elizabeth Warren, one in which she briefly and beautifully presented democratic political philosophy and its application to the current ideological debate in our country.

President Obama, too, has been using democratic political philosophy to explain to the public the basis for his positions on the issues facing us:

• "But there’s always been another thread running through our history -– a belief that we’re all connected, and that there are some things we can only do together, as a nation. We believe, in the words of our first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, that through government, we should do together what we cannot do as well for ourselves.

• "And so we’ve built a strong military to keep us secure, and public schools and universities to educate our citizens. We’ve laid down railroads and highways to facilitate travel and commerce. We’ve supported the work of scientists and researchers whose discoveries have saved lives, unleashed repeated technological revolutions, and led to countless new jobs and entire new industries. Each of us has benefitted from these investments, and we’re a more prosperous country as a result.

• "Part of this American belief that we’re all connected also expresses itself in a conviction that each one of us deserves some basic measure of security and dignity. We recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, hard times or bad luck, a crippling illness or a layoff may strike any one of us. “There but for the grace of God go I,” we say to ourselves. And so we contribute to programs like Medicare and Social Security, which guarantee us health care and a measure of basic income after a lifetime of hard work; unemployment insurance, which protects us against unexpected job loss; and Medicaid, which provides care for millions of seniors in nursing homes, poor children, those with disabilities. We’re a better country because of these commitments. I’ll go further. We would not be a great country without those commitments."
  

Most Americans prefer not to think of themselves as having an "ideology." But they do, in fact, have worldviews based upon systems of ideas and beliefs. Those systems of ideas and beliefs then inform their political positions. I think it best that we honestly present the philosophical underpinnings for democratic political positions, and let the people judge which is better for them. I believe democratic political philosophy will prevail eventually over all authoritarian creeds.