Threats or Gains: The Battle over Participation in America’s Careening Democracy

Modern democracies comprise multiple institutions and diverse principles. This can make them vulnerable to “democratic careening,” as polarized actors emphasize opposing views of what democracy means and requires. I argue that America’s current bout of democratic careening is founded on differing partisan perspectives of the ultimate purpose of government, and whether widespread political participation is necessary to fulfill it. While leftists generally take a gain-oriented approach to government, conservatives are more threat oriented. A byproduct of this foundational difference is that leftists’ conception of democracy is participation heavy, while conservatives’ conception tends to be participation light. The fact that liberals and conservatives differ on the importance of participation to democracy is a potential source of democratic careening, and the fact that conservatives do not necessarily see participation as a core democratic virtue poses the more serious risk of outright democratic collapse.