Postures and Politics: Some observations on participatory democracy

Frank MacKinnon is an urbane observer of the human condition. He believes in participatory democracy, but does not think that it or any other system will work if it is put on an ideological pedestal -- or if its limitations are not discussed frankly, and then remedied effectively.
In the opening chapters he describes in general ways the positions and strategies adopted today by people with various kinds of powers. He then examines in considerable detail several of man's major institutions -- governments and professions, churches, universities, and cultural bodies. Some of his conclusions are:
- Man has become very theoretical
- Man tends to take dogmatic positions based on his theories, so that social action becomes a contest rather than a dialogue -- a relationship among theories and institutions often rendered unintelligible by jargon and unworkable by regulation, rather than a communication among men.
- Man fancies administration and devotes much energy to entangling himself in his own red tape, often with fatal results
- Man allows himself to waste his talents and the world's resources
- Man can obviously afford to do none of those things

The remedy which Professor MacKinnon proposes is the re-introduction into the affairs of man of colour and culture. These, he argues, are not only the most practical of political instruments, but the only consistently successful means of communication among men of all races throughout all time.

show more...