Discovering what Democracy Means

republic is most b atomic number 18ly and conventionally defined as the type of organization wherein the power rests in the deal, or at least(prenominal), mass of a nations citizens. A brass that chuck up the sponges pack to vote and choose their leaders, a writing that is created exactly to protect the welf atomic number 18 of such state, comp are in the access of power and universal realisition of rights and liberties are principles that characterize body politic as a government and as a political theory.Bill Moyers believes in the power of we. He believes in the principles of equality and liberty. He believes in all principles that speak of state. However, there is something incompatible about Moyers portrayal of state. His speeches, shows and works, all suggest not tho a man who hunch overs and believes in principles but alike a man who is aroused in his advocacy of carrying these principles into actuality, not by inciting revolt or actual participation in a revolution but finished contemplative words that inspire and incite the dignity and populace in man.Bill Moyers starts Discovering What Democracy Means (2007) by fend for social scientists, artists and scholars, and arts and humanities as teachers of the mind. eon the Congress is macrocosm skeptical about allocating capital to arts and humanities, doubting its actual and practical region to the society, Moyers answer is simple They are worth sense of hearing to.How are they worth listening to? Moyers doesnt founder the Congress with a ledger of beneficial consequences, because sure enough he lot show n ane. But he cites a series of quotes from such public opineers, pointing to these quotes as something that would hit taught the members of the Congress the questions shared by the people, and would accept put their minds in a position to valuate the status of the society in relation to the peoples capacity and reservoir of creativity. At integrity point he intimated t hat arts and humanities bring the good in people, even at least in their fantasiesThey would have heard the filmmaker David Puttnam range how as a boy he sat through dozens of screenings of A Man for all(a) Seasons, the story of Sir Thomas Mores blackened defiance of Henry VIII It allowed me the enormous dresser of walking out of the cinema thinking, Yeah, I think I might have had my head incinerate off for the sake of a principle. I know absolutely I wouldnt, and I probably never met anyone who would, but the cinema allowed me that conceit. It allowed me for one moment to disembodied spirit that boththing decent in me had come together. (Moyers, 2007)This quote whitethorn also be interpreted as put premium on vicarious amaze. After all, a person is not expected to experience everything that idler be experienced in one life fourth dimension. liberal arts and humanities provide a medium for allowing people to experience more than what their limitations (imposed by reality an d self-impressions) allow them to experience. It allows people to feel a sense of empowerment, or a sense of pride that they can do oft metres more or know much more than what they routinely experience and perceive every day.If viewed in light of the above quotation, this interpretation also says that the Congressmen would have had a wider world view, and therefore break down understanding of humanity and its interactions if only they allowed themselves to be taught by arts and humanities.This is Moyers meaning of democracy. It is more than being concerned with the improvement of the lives of each idiosyncratic It nurtures individual freedom and ability. In other words, democracy should be more than a government structure accredited democracy also uplifts humanity. In this sense, Moyers democracy can be equated with the principles of humanism.Moyers, taking from Cleanth Brooks of Yale, set both the enemies and associate of democracy. The enemies of democracy are set as the ba stard muses propaganda which plead, sometimes unscrupulously, for a peculiar(a) cause or issue at the disbursement of the total truth sentimentality, which works up horny responses unwarranted by, and in excess of, the occasion and pornography, which focuses upon one powerful human drive at the cost of the total human personality (Moyers, 2007).To counter these, the allies of democracy must be cultivated. These include the reliable muses of moral imagination, which not only arms us to resist the little lies and fantasies of advertising, the official lies of power, and the ghoulish products of alarming minds, but also open us to the lived experience of othersto the affirmations of heightened consciousnessto empathy (Moyers, 2007). Is Moyer speaking about the media?Moyers think that the media have left people to become mere receptacles of information, which regrettably has been corrupted by pundits and biased, conceited, politicized opinions, and newsfeeds pervade the society. A ll are fronts for specific political interests, creating principles that are anti-democracy.It is only through liberal education that a person can be liberated from circumstances that are beyond his/her control. Moyer believes that people have been institutionalized in a way that each person has become locked in a separate reality, parochial loyalties and fixed self-perceptions, and everybody becomes a stranger to everybody. Democracy will prosper only if such bonds that separate individuals from one another are destroyed in order to allow a life of free and enriching communion (Moyers, 2007).The present crisis does not involve the existence of enigmas, issues or lack of policies. The problem is the lack of conversations about the real meaning of democracythat it is not merely a means of brass but a means of empowering and dignifying people so that they can truly attain freedom, both morally and politically. An entrusted democracy is not true democracy. Moyer thinks that it is tim e for the people to repossess democracy.Bill Moyers ends his speech by praiseful Woodrow Wilson for being advocate of democracy. This is quite a move for someone like Moyers who is passionate about espousing democracy in its deeper meaning. Woodrow Wilson, based on some of his actions, manifested an autocratic leaning. It was he, for example, who brought to the US the Federal Reserve which controls or creates fiscal policies that some would describe as undemocratic. It was he who brought forces into Mexico and who took the US into WWI.His idealism favored a top-down structure of society controlled by the elite. Lastly, Woodrow Wilson is also know for his support of the Ku Klux Klan, a domestic organization in the united States having national scope and is known for doing acts of frenzy to further white supremacy. What could be a better manifestation of anti-democratic sentiments than a persons support for the freedom and equality that were the legacy of the forefathers of the United States?Moyers sentiments against the media, the government and the enemies of democracy as healthy as his discourse about the need to converse the meaning of democracy, and take it from the hands of the elite are well and good but the problem is that he offers no solution in order to overhaul the people and the society to move forward from its legitimate undemocratic and lamentable state. Moyers words may have inspired many but the time when such inspiration will be morose into something more tangible is yet to come.ReferenceMoyer, B. (2007). Discovering What Democracy Means. Retrieved 01 May 2009 from http//www.worldproutassembly.org/archives/2007/02/discovering_wha.html.