Democrats and Democracy

Democracy functions not merely through institutions but through a habit of mind. It requires citizens who examine their experiences, question what they are given, and take responsibility for their actions. The central human problem has always been epistemic and practical: how to know and how to act. Societies tend toward cognitive ease; inherited assumptions, social cues, and now algorithmically curated information often substitute for independent judgment. The availability of better information, including that generated by advanced technologies, does not by itself produce better citizens. When individuals outsource judgment rather than refine it, informational improvement can coexist with civic passivity.

If democratic life weakens, it is not only because institutions fail but because citizens cease to exercise reflective agency. Instinct, habit, and group loyalty are natural features of human psychology, but democracy demands that they be examined rather than blindly obeyed. The responsibility here is irreducibly personal: each individual must resist passive acceptance and subject even the most ordinary claims and experiences to thought.

Yet reflection in isolation is insufficient. Democratic agency matures in conversation. Through disciplined, respectful exchange, individuals test their judgments, revise errors, and recognise others as equal participants in a shared world. Such dialogue is not ornamentation to democracy; it is the practice through which citizens sustain both political responsibility and their own humanity. Democracy endures when reflective individuals engage one another seriously, and it erodes when thought and conversation are replaced by reflex and consumption.

Niraj Kumar Jha