Gore's call for a more active democracy

In his 'Assault on Reason,' former Vice President Al Gore chides a passive electorate too dependent on TV.

from the July 17, 2007 edition

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But for many readers, Gore's intelligence and experience will be virtues to admire, even if he may not come across as the fun guy at the barbecue.

For Gore, democracy (not to be confused with politics) should be much more than a spectator sport, as it was, at least ideally, for the nation's founders. True representative democracy, Gore argues, demands much of its citizens – principally the constant effort to be personally well-informed based on facts and the exercise of reason.

But what this modern-day Jeremiah sees instead are "the signs of a dangerous downward spiral for our democracy."

One of the main reasons? "As the dominance of television has grown, extremely important elements of American democracy have begun to be pushed to the sidelines.... The print-based public sphere that had emerged from the books, pamphlets, and essays of the Enlightenment has ... come to seem as remote as the horse and buggy."

In other words, there's now an intellectual passivity largely the result of the "one-way medium" of TV. (On average, Americans are exposed to 4-1/2 hours of television a day, he notes.)

As a result, Gore warns, "the internal balance between reason, fear, and faith" is thrown off balance, taken advantage of by ideologues and a remarkably incurious president.

Does this make him an annoying scold – looking down on average citizens from an elevated intellectual and moral height? Is he merely adding more bile to an already bitter political atmosphere? Some may view "The Assault on Reason" that way, especially if they already see Gore as the caricature his opponents have portrayed him as.

But to those concerned about the country's place in the world today and the direction of American politics and society, Al Gore's treatise is a very valuable if sobering reminder that democracy has to be constantly worked at by all of us.

• Brad Knickerbocker is a Monitor staff writer.

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