Working on Our Civic Selves, Together

Robert Talisse argues first that solitude has civic value, and second that certain democratic capacities can only be cultivated away from the political fray. Civic solitude is Talisse’s latest answer to the polarization dynamic undermining U.S. politics. It involves reflective engagement with ideas that transcend partisan tropes, allowing citizens to decenter their partisan selves, think beyond the current political idiom, and prepare for productive engagement with others. Convinced of the first claim that solitary activities have civic value, I challenge Talisse’s stronger second claim that democracy needs distance and that this self-work can only occur in isolation. First, polarization stems not only from good-faith engagement gone wrong, but also bad-faith actors and environmental factors which cannot always be overcome by individuals. Second, even if Talisse is right that polarization is as much a personal problem as it is a relational one, I show that we can work on our civic selves together. We can decenter our partisan selves through facilitated democratic practices endorsed by many deliberative democrats, including participating in deliberative minipublics, but also by engaging in local politics or studying comparative politics. The civic value of solitary reflection may ultimately rely on the engagement that follows it. Indeed, the main benefit of Talisse's civic solitude may be that it gives us something to talk about with others, something that is less triggering, less partisan, but still political and with potentially lower stakes.