Americans across the political spectrum agree that our democracy is in crisis. We view our political opponents with disdain, if not terror, and an increasing number of us are willing to consider authoritarian alternatives. In Two Cheers for Politics, Jedediah Purdy argues that this heated political culture is a symptom not of too much democracy but too little. Today, the decisions that most affect our lives and our communities are often made outside the political realm entirely, as market ideology, constitutional law, and cultural norms effectively remove broad swaths of collective life from the table of collective decision. The result is a weakened and ineffective political system and an increasingly unequal and polarized society. If we wish to renew that society, we’ll need to claw back the ground that we’ve ceded to anti-politics and entrust one another with the power to shape our common life.
Praise
“A nuanced prescription for a politics remade in the wake of the Trump era . . . Purdy argues convincingly that reforms must address issues such as economic and social inequality, predatory capitalism, and ‘systems of relentless, hierarchical pressure.’ The alternative is to lose democracy, he warns, which is to surrender any decision making authority over our own lives.”
—Kirkus“An unflinching yet hopeful study of democracy’s origins, shortcomings, and enduring importance . . .This stimulating defense of democracy provides much food for thought.”
—Publishers Weekly“Purdy brilliantly argues that we need politics, and that our politics needs to be democratic. Democracy means voting rights, but also much more: an economy that empowers citizens and a culture where what joins us together matters more than what divides us. The alternative is an apathy and anti-politics which will make justice impossible. We need to defend our democracy and also to build it up and deepen it.”
—Ro Khanna, member of Congress and author of Dignity in a Digital Age