Well said...

In Ian Angus’s essay, “What is Democratic Debate”, he defines democracy a few times. He describes it as an idea where the people can control the functioning of the society, not just its established political institutions, but that people should make decisions about all the issues that affect them. The citizens come together to share, criticize, and modify their opinions. He explains that the people engage in public discussion in order to make decisions having to do with their common life. For them to do so, they must have access to public places where discussions occur for each citizen to shape his or her own opinion. By places, Angus gives the examples of a marketplace, parks, pubs, street corners, etc. He even considers places as newspapers, pamphlets, and even television and internet. For a true democratic society to be effective, the citizens must have access to these meeting places for discussion and debate.

Public participation and public opinion are a huge part of distinguishing democracy, according to Angus. For democracy’s public to decline, he said it would be “the loss of civic discourse”, which means losing the essence of democracy is at risk. The one concept he emphasizes is how many individuals believe that their participation means nothing when it comes to decision making processes, which is very true in many societies. He believes that if citizens begin to feel that their opinions and participation actually matters, “they might start to expect to have the right to public participation in many, or even all, large organizations”. It is important for the citizens to feel as if they make a difference.

Angus emphasizes that the public sphere is a key component of democracy and determining the degree of it. Democracy is a constant process in Angus’s eyes. Although, it is continuously changing, much of it stays the same as well.

Angus clearly got his point through in this essay, I believe.