Deliberation Day is a bold, a possibly achievable idea to increase voter knowledge of key topics in elections and potentially increase voter participation. But how realistic is this idea? While there is obviously challenges that present themselves in order to institute this such as participation, bias, and sheer demographics. The hope is that such an event would help enable people to create solutions to social issues. That being said John Stuart Mill would be in favor of a Deliberation day because of his support of utilitarianism, citizens participation in government and his strong stance education.
As Christiano says in the chapter on Democracy, he states that democracy tends to make individuals stand up for themselves more so than other forms of government (Christiano, 2015). Which is the entire idea of a democracy; collective decisions of the masses in comparison to a tyrannical or monarchy government where leaders can potentially ignore what the citizens think they want. While having the general populations’ input on important issues in society like laws, and other policies is vital there are several possible complications in it. To start there is no way to ensure that the voting population truly understands and can make educated decisions in certain areas. As James Fishkin discusses there is an ever growing problem of “phantom opinion” (Fishkin, 2011). This occurs when an individual is asked what their options or ideas are about a certain topic, a law per say and instead of admitting they don’t actually have any knowledge about the said topic, they give their opinion anyways. This practice can serveraly harm what is considered the common good in society, supporting this Plato argues that “democracy can undermine the expertise truly needed for a proper governed society” (Christiano, 2015). An added point to the argument is group polarization, there are many more followers than leaders in the world and numerous times it’s been shown individuals are less likely to go against group majority. Another issue with the general voting public is that unconsciously people will always hold a bias. This tends to lead to selective exposure, Frey defines selective exposure as “cognitive dissonance, which leads people to seek information consonant with their beliefs and to avoid challenging information”(Frey, 1986). There are dozens of theories as to why this happens but all of which come to the same conclusion that selective exposure can skew what the consensus of the common good really is. One of the most important challenges facing such an occasion as a Deliberation day would be demographics. For example in the United States certain states historically have always stuck to certain parties for various reasons; take Wyoming for instance the most conservative state versus Vermont or Massachusetts the most liberal (Saad, 2018). If you were to hold a local deliberation you would almost definitely lack the diversity you would need to make it as informative and balanced as possible.
There is no question that public input leads to better informed laws, policies, and function in societies and states. But how can our leaders and governments really ensure the voting population knows what they are voting for and the possible repercussions? This is where Deliberation days come into focus they are in short public forums that can occur before elections for voting populations either on a national, local scale, or both can gather listen to others opinions, reasonings and come up with potential solutions, with the aid of moderators and hopefully become a better more educated voters at the end. Christiano discusses a large problem within democratic societies and that is since most feel that their vote is insufficient they either don’t vote or have little inclination to become informed about the best way to vote (Christiano, 2015). Deliberation days would potentially change that. But there are 5 critical logistics within Deliberation we must account for, and as Fishkin states it all falls under the umbrella of quality; information, balance, diversity, conscious, and equal considerations (Fishkin, 2011). These objectives effectively act as checks and balances for the entire idea. We can achieve objectives by having trained moderators, pre assembly document debriefings, and unbiased experts and ensuring random samples. Now the biggest question would be to how to increase or even have participation in an event such as this, and there are many potential choices all of which can be combined in a mix and match sanario. As recommended by Fishkin and Ackerman would be all participants would be paid $150 (Ackerman and Fishkin, 2002), which is about average with the current minimum wage an American would make a day. Other possible ideas could be leaving the decision of what to give for an incentive of to the national parties participating in a liberal day, because ideal the parties would want to education as many as possible paving the way for some undoubtedly unique incentives. In addition free transportation, meal(s) or even on site voter registration.
The general consensus Mill conveys is one of support of an idea such as a Deliberation Day. Mill views public participation in government as the largest asset a state could have, “participation, even in the smallest public function is useful” (Thompson, 1979). He also believes in basic universal education in reading, writing, and maths. He continues on to discuss how participation in government protects a citizens rights but also allows for a political education. Mill believes that human nature is not set and stone and that one is a product of his or hers environment. Therefore meaning if one is exposed and educated in the ways a of representative democracy with high value in participation an individual should be able to make the most informed and beneficial decisions and vote to contribute to the overall greater good of the society. Mill’s “radical” views on utilitarianism also contribute to the fact that he would support a Deliberation day. Although on the complete opposite end of the spectrum from Bentham’s take on utilitarianism, Mill states "actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness" (Mill et al., 2007). Mill’s idea on happiness goes hand in hand with his views on the common good, and that the common good comes from interests and the best interests comes from well educated people because they are “properly concerned” (Thompson 1979). Coupled with the fact that he believes utilitarianism and human nature/morality are intertwined if enough time passes and the ideal of utilitarianism is passed on in a society there is potential a state could have generations of morally upstanding citizens. Lastly education, Mill proposed that education be made mandatory by law and the state institute a system of examinations (West, 1965). While his views on varying levels on education complicate the idea of equal say in representative democracy nonetheless in was a impressive and modern idea for the time, one still most societies have yet to achieve.
As already stated John Mill does give some condratory ideas in his book on Representative Government specifical in the chapter on the The Principle of Competence (p. 55-90) but also just mentioned education. Mill thought that a person with higher education level should be entitled to more votes, which could potentially mean he believed some peoples’ opinions were not worthy of consideration. Along with the belief that voting rights weren’t unconditional and that the uneducated or individuals on social welfare shouldn’t be able to have a say. But he did believe in universal suffrage which included women.
Subsequently the idea of a Deliberation Day is feasible and could potentially happen. We also see through Mill’s writings and values about participation in government, education, and his notion on utlistarism it can be deducted that he would have supported and possibly even enjoyed the idea of a Deliberation Day. But still acknowledging the fact that he held some beliefs that could be debated as his opposition to the idea.