Date: Thu, 7 Mar 1996 00:39:34 -0800
From: djones-AT-uclink.berkeley.edu (rakesh bhandari)
Subject: Re: Questions About Radical Democracy



>From Leo Re: Lani Guinier

> I don't think that the work is
>particularly radical, but it is certainly democratic, and addresses some
>important issues concerning African-American political representation in a
>racist society. David Plotke wrote one of the most interesting critiques of
>it in a recent issue of _Dissent_, and then he and she had a little debate.

It certainly isn't democratic (relying here on book reviews, though not
Plotke's).  The explicit purpose is to guarantee minority rights over and
against majority rule.  Rather crudely, Guinier seems to have been inspired
by the Federalist concern to protect minority rights, forgetting that their
minority was actually the elite class of property owners.  

At any rate, Sheldon Wolin has written about how the Federalists attempted
to check popular democratic control.  I believe that he first advanced the
argument in the now defunct journal democracy, ed. N. Xenos; the essays
later became the basis of a book, I believe.  So Guinier seems to be
ignorant of the roots and the class nature of the discourse which she has
attempted to apply in a different context.

As to actual political project of creating racial "minority-majority"
districts, this has been far from benign.  While Guinier may have been
attacked by Republicans, it should be noted that racial redistricting was
actually approved by the Reagan and Bush administrations.  Some have even
argued that it has had the consequence of more overall Republican
victories, as Democratic voters are more concentrated in single racial
districts.  There is also the more important, long-term consequence of how
such redistricting contributes to the racialization of consciousness and
conflict, further undermining the base for democratic action among the
masses as a whole. 

For such considerations, see Classifying By Race, ed. Paul E Peterson
(Princeton, 1995)
 



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