Description
Book SynopsisOutlines specific steps that average American citizens can take to reduce political polarization and safeguard democratic institutions.
Trade Review“An essential and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university library contemporary political science collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. Deserving of as wide a readership as possible, it should be noted for students, academia, political activists, governmental policy makers, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject.”
—Midwest Book Review
“As warning signs flare about the state of American democracy, we should consider both cultural and institutional solutions. Beem’s The Seven Democratic Virtues is an empowering text that gives readers actionable steps to promote democracy through their individual behavior.”
—Jeremy Rose Fairvote
“With our democratic future at stake, The Seven Democratic Virtues deserves a wide hearing.”
—Beau Underwood A Public Witness
“Beem uses his deep understanding of Western philosophical and theological traditions, plus contemporary social and cognitive psychology, to construct a strong and distinctive argument that we must cultivate certain virtues to combat polarization and misinformation. He offers essential guidance for anyone who cares about democracy.”
—Peter Levine,author of We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For: The Promise of Civic Renewal in America
“No one has mined the history of the Western intellectual tradition on the virtues and done nearly so good of a job in transposing those rich resources into the context of twenty-first-century democratic politics. Beem’s treatment takes old, dusty texts and breathes urgent vitality into them for the reform of our civic life.”
—Michael Neblo,author of Deliberative Democracy Between Theory and Practice
“When we think of democracy as simply a mechanism for making collective decisions, we overlook the fact that democracy is also the moral proposal that free and equal citizens can live together as a self-governing community, despite their ongoing political disagreements. Of course, in recognizing this moral dimension of democracy, we also confront the fact that democracy is not easy. In this engaging and important book, Christopher Beem makes an impassioned case for recovering the idea of democratic civic virtues, the dispositions and practices that citizens need to conduct themselves well amidst political conflict. John Dewey once wrote that democracy is a ‘task before us.’ Christopher Beem reminds us that democracy also sets a task within us.”
—Robert B. Talisse,author of Overdoing Democracy: Why We Must Put Politics in its Place
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements
Introduction
Part 1: The Democratic Vice
1. Tribalism
2. Tribal Alignment
3. Tribalism and Madison’s Precautions
Part 2: Democratic Thinking
4. Humility
5. Honesty
6. Consistency
Part 3: Democratic Acting
7. Courage
8. Temperance
Part 4: Democratic Belief
9. Charity
10. Faith (and Hope)
Conclusion: Democratic Excellence
Notes
Bibliography
Index
