Democracy: A Guided Tour is a good political philosophy 101 kind of book. Democracy is a tool, not a poem, and we can judge how well it's working from the standpoint of standards like stability, virtue, wisdom, liberty, and equality.

The table of contents itself is useful for developing a mental model.

1. Democracy: Why or Why Not?

2. For Stability: Stability through Shared Power

3. Against Stability: Passion and Polarization

4. For Virtue: Does Democracy Enlighten and Ennoble?

5. Against Virtue: Does Democracy Make Us Angry, Mean, and Dumb?

6. For Wisdom: Two Heads Are Smarter than One

7. Against Wisdom: Garbage In, Garbage Out

8. For Liberty: The Consent of the Governed?

9. Against Liberty: Democracy as the Many-Headed Master

10. For Equality: Democracy as the Public Expression of Equal Standing

11. Against Equality: Is Democratic Equality an Illusion?

In general, I found the "against" chapters more persuasive.

#books #bookstr

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