Amintaphil: The Philosophical Foundations of Law And Justice Series Editor: Mortimer Sellers Ann E. Cudd Sally J. Scholz Editors Philosophical Perspectives on Democracy in the 21st Century AMINTAPHIL Philosophical Perspectives on Democracy in the 21st Century AMINTAPHIL The Philosophical Foundations of Law and Justice Series editor Mortimer Sellers, University of Baltimore Editorial board Leslie P. Francis, University of Utah Carol Gould, Hunter College Steven P. Lee, Hobart and William Smith Colleges Rex Martin, University of Kansas and University of Cardiff Larry May, Washington University in St. Louis Christine T. Sistare, Muhlenberg College For further volumes: http://www.springer.com/series/7372 Ann E. Cudd • Sally J. Scholz Editors Philosophical Perspectives on Democracy in the 21st Century Editors Ann E. Cudd Sally J. Scholz Department of Philosophy Department of Philosophy University of Kansas Villanova University Lawrence, KS , USA Villanova , PA , USA ISSN 1873-877X ISSN 2351-9851 (electronic) ISBN 978-3-319-02311-3 ISBN 978-3-319-02312-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-02312-0 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London Library of Congress Control Number: 2013955587 © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. 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While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Acknowledgement We would like to acknowledge the support and assistance of several institutions and individuals who made our work on this volume possible, effi cient, and enjoyable. Ann thanks the University of Kansas College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for fi nancial support of her research and travel to the 2012 AMINTAPHIL conference. Sally thanks Villanova University Department of Philosophy for research support. Mortimer Sellers and the University of Baltimore School of Law hosted the 2012 conference and we are grateful for their hospitality. Bruce Landesman has been the Executive Director of AMINTAPHIL for many years and we thank him for his dedication to an organization that has treated us so well over the years. Ashley Acosta-Fox, Ph.D. student at the University of Kansas, assisted us with the copyediting and formatting of the manuscript. We thank her for good sense and attention to detail. Thanks also go to all the participants in the conference. The essays published here refl ect your lively conversations and constructive criticism. Finally, we thank the contributors to this volume, who withstood numerous requests for revisions, responded to queries about copyediting and other details, and did so with effi ciency and good humor. Ann would like to dedicate this volume to Richard DeGeorge and Rex Martin, her colleagues in political philosophy at the University of Kansas for over 25 years, who introduced her to the AMINTAPHIL Society, and Sally would like to dedicate this volume to Bill McBride and Joe Betz, who value and encourage philosophical engagement with the real world. v Contents 1 Philosophical Perspectives on Democracy in the Twenty-First Century: Introduction ............................................................................ 1 Ann E. Cudd and Sally J. Scholz Part I The Meaning of Democracy 2 Democracy: A Paradox of Rights? ........................................................ 15 Emily R. Gill 3 Rights and the American Constitution: The Issue of Judicial Review and Its Compatibility with Democracy .................................... 29 Rex Martin 4 Democracy as a Social Myth .................................................................. 43 Richard T. De George Part II The Current Polarization 5 Political Polarization and the Markets vs. Government Debate ............. 57 Stephen Nathanson 6 Two Visions of Democracy ..................................................................... 75 Richard Barron Parker 7 Proportional Representation, the Single Transferable Vote, and Electoral Pragmatism ............................................................ 87 Richard Nunan 8 The Problem of Democracy in the Context of Polarization ................ 103 Imer B. Flores vii viii Contents Part III Democracy, Capitalism, and the Infl uence of Big Money 9 Is Justice Possible Under Welfare State Capitalism? .......................... 121 Steven P. Lee 10 Rawls on Inequality, Social Segregation and Democracy ................... 133 Mark Navin 11 Mass Democracy in a Postfactual Market Society: Citizens United and the Role of Corporate Political Speech .............................. 147 F. Patrick Hubbard 12 A Tsunami of Filthy Lucre: How the Decisions of the SCOTUS Imperil American Democracy .................................... 159 Jonathan Schonsheck 13 Democracy and Economic Inequality ................................................... 175 Alistair M. Macleod Part IV Democratic Decisions and the (Un)Informed Public 14 Epistocracy Within Public Reason ........................................................ 191 Jason Brennan 15 Journalists as Purveyors of Partial Truths ........................................... 205 Russell W. Waltz 16 Motivated Reasoning, Group Identifi cation, and Representative Democracy ............................................................. 219 Kenneth Henley 17 Republics, Passions and Protests ........................................................... 229 Wade L. Robison Author Bios ...................................................................................................... 241 Index ................................................................................................................. 245 Chapter 1 Philosophical Perspectives on Democracy in the Twenty-First Century: Introduction Ann E. Cudd and Sally J. Scholz Abstract Recent global movements, including the Arab Spring, the Occupy Movement, as well as polarizing events in the US, such as the Citizens United ruling, invite a rethinking of the meaning, desirability, and feasibility of democracy in the twenty- fi rst century. Technological changes have increased democratic participation, but have yet to improve democratic deliberation. Ideological differences have engendered incivility and unwillingness to compromise. Philosophical refl ection offers opportunities not only to scrutinize the implications of these changes for democracy but also to reevaluate the nature and meaning of the core concepts of political theory. This chapter interprets the contemporary context of democracy in light of recent developments, and offers an overview of the issues considered in the chapters of this book. Recent global movements invite a rethinking of the meaning, desirability, and feasibility of democracy in the twenty-fi rst century, especially in light of economic or corporate globalization. While the Arab Spring demonstrates the sacrifi ces individuals are willing to make in the struggle for democracy, the Occupy Movement raises the question of who has a voice and access to power in a democracy. All over the world, we see individuals and collectives exerting renewed democratic political power through social media and transnational protest, but simultaneously the power of multinational corporations in domestic politics challenges the very ideal of democratic equality and who counts as a rights holder. Philosophical discussions A. E. Cudd (*) Department of Philosophy , University of Kansas , 1445 Jayhawk Blvd Rm 3090 , 66045 Lawrence , KS , USA e-mail: [email protected] S. J. Scholz Department of Philosophy , Villanova University , 800 Lancaster Ave , 19085-1478 Villanova , PA , USA e-mail: [email protected] A.E. Cudd and S.J. Scholz (eds.), Philosophical Perspectives on Democracy 1 in the 21st Century, AMINTAPHIL: The Philosophical Foundations of Law and Justice 5, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-02312-0_1, © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014 2 A.E. Cudd and S.J. Scholz of the rapidly