POLITICS FOR PEOPLE - Finding A Responsible Public Voice - Softcover

Mathews, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 025202088X ISBN 13: 9780252020889

Publisher: University of Illinois Press, 1994

Synopsis

Many Americans make no secret of their anger at being shut out of the political system. They are looking for ways to "take back the system."
Because of their low opinion of "politics as usual," some citizens are trying to create a politics relevant to their everyday lives. Their efforts give us a richer understanding of political life and of a much-neglected subject - the public.
In Politics for People, David Mathews describes how people become politically engaged, how they build civic communities, and how they generate political energy or public will. He argues that political discussion is the doorway into politics, and he makes a case for leavening partisan debate with more public dialogue.
Citizens are important, Mathews argues, because they have important work to do - work that goes beyond voting. The public has to define its own interest and make difficult choices about purpose in order to give direction to government and lay the foundations for common action. In order for citizens to make those choices wisely, Mathews advocates reviving the town meeting tradition and adding more deliberative dialogue to what is usually partisan debate.
As Mathews explains when Americans create new civic associations, organize forums, and change the political dialogue, they are building the common ground and civic infrastructure necessary to solve problems. In this expanded notion of politics, "The public and its citizens are not peripheral, they are central."
Politics for People examines and responds to critics who either doubt that the public exists or believe that citizens lack the intellectual and moral capacity for self-government. Mathews also speaks to government officials, especially those who want to change the often counterproductive ways in which citizens and governments relate. He explains what a democratic citizenry must do if its representative government is to perform effectively, and he shows how officials might work with, and not just for, the public.

About this title

About the Author

Mathews earned a Phd in American educational history. He has been president of the University of Alabama and secretary of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Review

"We the people are pretty disgusted with politics... But what we're disgusted with is formally elected, representative government... There is another form of American politics, however, one vital to the American ideal that government is of, by, and for the people. It resides in our town-meeting-like habit of banding together to do things that need doing in our communities, whether it's keeping a toxic-waste dump from being put next door to a school or cleaning up the neighborhood. It depends not upon election, but upon self-selection and not upon careerism, but upon good citizenship and fellow feeling. Perhaps ... by realizing how much political power we can and do wield in our own backyards, we may lose some of our despondency and a lot of our dependency upon our elective government." - ALA Booklist "The optimism of David Mathews is very much needed in these cynical times. His faith that the public can play a much more substantial political role is contagious... An effective antidote to the prevailing cynical view of an apathetic public that has little interest in any but the most parochial concerns."- William Stewart, The Alabama Review ADVANCE PRAISE "An extraordinarily timely, topical, and useful book. Written in an accessible, popular style, it addresses the central public question of our time: How to develop a politics that works?"- Harry C. Boyte, coauthor of Citizen Action and the New American Populism "There is a remarkable wave of innovative thought and action among social problem solvers at the grassroots today-and Politics for People is at the leading edge of that wave. It is required reading for citizens."- John W. Gardner, Miriam and Peter Haas Centennial Professor in Public Service, Stanford University "Accessible and deeply important, Politics for People makes a vital contribution to the debate about the nature of American democracy."- Benjamin F. Barber, author of The Conquest of Politics: Liberal Philosophy in Democratic Times "Goes several steps beyond many recent reflections on public disenchantment with traditional political behavior and with governance by politics-as-usual. David has effectively integrated a candid examination of the dilemma of inaccessible politics with practical examples of ways in which ordinary citizens can manage, influence, and even capture the future of their own communities. Politics for People makes a very valuable contribution to the literature on political participation." - Eddie N. Williams, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 025202088X
• ISBN 13: 9780252020889
• Binding: Paperback