Talking It Through: Puzzles of American Democracy

American democracy is commonly described as "majoritarian," but Robert W. Bennett argues that it is more usefully understood as "an extraordinary engine for producing conversation about public affairs" that involves essentially the entire adult citizenry. In Bennett's view, many central features of American democracy act as spurs to wide-ranging conversational interaction between the government and the governed. These included a separately elected executive, bicameralism, federalism, localism, single-member legislative districts, and heightened constitutional protection for speech and the press. Bennett asserts that the resulting democratic conversation plays an important role in holding the entire nation together and in inducing fidelity on the part of citizens to actions taken in its name. Bennett's groundbreaking conversational account also illuminates facets of American democracy which, he says, have heretofore "been blurry, if visible at all." He focuses on four puzzles of American democracy that can be "solved" through his approach. These are: lack of concern about the apportionment of the United States Senate; inattention to the anomalous political treatment of children; the perceived "counter-majoritarianism" of judicial review in enforcement of the U.S. Constitution; and the much-discussed paradox of voting: why do so many citizens vote when their individual ballots have almost no chance of changing election outcomes? Bennett also treats methodological questions of just what makes theories of complex social phenomena (like American democracy) more or less successful.

About the Author :
Robert Bennett holds the Nathaniel L. Nathanson Chair at the Northwestern University School of Law. He has been a member of the Northwestern law faculty since entering teaching as an Assistant Professor in 1969. He served as the school's dean from 1985 until 1995. While he has taught about a large variety of subjects, his principal scholarly work has been about constitutional law and constitutional theory. During the period he worked on this book at Northwestern, he held the Stanford and Zylpha Clinton Sr. Research Professorship for the 1999-2000 academic year and the George C. Dix Professorship of Constitutional Law for the 2001-02 academic year.

Review :
"In response to those who emphasize the countermajoritarian nature of aspects of the judicial branch, Bennett (law, Northwestern Univ.) insists that the executive and legislative branches are also replete with countermajoritarian elements: 'Majoritarianism and the vote-centered model,' he concludes, 'do not have much to offer as depictions of American democracy.' ... A lucid and provocative work. Summing up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, and those interested in law and public policy."-M.C. Price, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Choice, Sept. 2003. "In short, I feel that Bennett has found an interesting angle from which the workings of the democratic process in the United States can be viewed, and the very approach he selected may tell Europeans something new about American views on democracy. He has successfully made numerous trenchant arguments against the simple majoritarian model, but his own account has been shot to pieces in real life by the Bush Administration's heavy-handed treatment of the international community and those members of the nation who do not agree with the prevailing opinion."-Michael Bohlander, Exeter University School of Law, Swiss Political Science Review, 10:1, Spring 2004 "Talking it Through" is an ingenious and optimistic analysis of the American constitutional structure. Robert Bennett grapples with some puzzles and problems of our representative democracy and turns these sow's ears into silky celebrations that will provoke thoughtful readers."-Saul Levmore, Dean, University of Chicago Law School "Robert Bennett offers a provocative view of American democracy as a method of involving citizens in conversation. His perspective sheds light on some familiar puzzles, and some previously ignored ones. Lawyers and political scientists should reflect carefully on Bennett's arguments; we will all learn from them."-Mark Tushnet, Georgetown University Law Center "Talking It Through is a thoughtful and interesting book. The most remarkable aspect of the book is in Robert Bennett's identification of 'puzzles' that have been been virtually ignored - that is, accepted without discussion and viewed as unproblematic aspects of our legal system."-Robert A. Burt, Yale University