I’ve tried in poems, prose, essays, and action to articulate a way of moving beyond the over-partisanized politics in Texas and the United States (see my Social Justice category). Reimagining democracy as a work of love by Luke Roberts does it better and extends the vision beyond what I see.
When we say the word “democracy” what do we mean? My hunch is that most people immediately think of voting, party politics and perhaps the rule of law. Few, if any, think about the relational practices through which we transform asymmetries of power and negotiate rival visions of human flourishing. Yet democratic politics lives or dies by the quality and character of the relationships that make it possible. Democratic politics names a set of practices for generating forms of relational power and cooperation.
Democratic politics is not just participation in decision making, but also the capacity of ordinary people to act collectively to reconstitute their common life through shared speech and action.