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A friend just sent me this list of a few quotes from the highly acclaimed (by educators) John Goodlad book “Developing Democratic Character in the Young.”

• “At its most basic, democracy means shared governance or shared decision making. In other words, if a decision will affect the lives of more than one individual, as most decisions do, that decision should be made by all of those affected, or by as many as possible.”  (Paul Theobald et al., in Goodad, John: Developing Democratic Character in the Young, pp. 94-110)

• “There are many ideas, everything from “computer democracy,” which would enable direct rather than representative voting at the state and even the federal level (thus eliminating the effectiveness of corporate lobbying efforts), to the creation of new state charters of incorporation.”  [he goes into some detail about why corporations are the source of injustice, and why we should essentially abolish them.]  (Paul Theobald et al., in Goodad, John: Developing Democratic Character in the Young, pp. 94-110)

• “What makes popular rule legitimate is that it is a fair process, not that it produces results that are right.” (Paul Theobald et al., in Goodad, John: Developing Democratic Character in the Young, pp. 94-110)

• In order to produce right results, he says that popular rule “must be constrained by some substantive values.” (Paul Theobald et al., in Goodad, John: Developing Democratic Character in the Young, pp. 94-110)

In other words:

1) Enculturate the young with the values the state thinks are best,
2) Promote popular rule through direct democracy, so that
3) The people will vote for themselves what the state thinks is best.

Here is some of what he has to say about John Lock, Adam Smith, and the US Constitution:

• “…we must dismiss that part of our Locke-Smith heritage that separates the social and economic life from the political sphere. This is not easily done given that so much of Smith and Locke went into the Constitution.” (Paul Theobald et al., in Goodad, John: Developing Democratic Character in the Young, pp. 94-110)t

• If the question of sustainability comes down to a struggle between those who value short-term economic gain [corporations/capitalists] and those who value long-term environmental well-being, then engaging in deliberative democracy…may be the only way to grapple with and overcome this issue in a collective manner. (Paul Theobald et al., in Goodad, John: Developing Democratic Character in the Young, pp. 94-110)

• “democratic character” that must be developed in the young is defined as a “democratic concern for social, economic, and environmental justice.” Goodlad’s organization, the NNER, advocates dispositions favorable toward redistribution of resources, promotion of GLBTQQIIAA  lifestyles, and environmentalism. (Paul Theobald et al., in Goodad, John: Developing Democratic Character in the Young, pp. 94-110)

Anyone care to argue that Goodlad isn’t looking for direct Democracy, the kind our Founding Fathers hated?

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