Ken and John begin the show by hashing out a working definition for democracy. Ken then brings up an essential question: is this form of government inherently good? Plato and Hobbes were vocally against democracy as an effective style of government, Ken reports, because such a system puts a premium on skills needed to win office rather than skills needed to govern well. John counters by citing Locke as a philosophical defender of democracy and reminding Ken that, at least in the West, democracy is obviously considered in a very positive light.

But is democracy universally preferred? Are there philosophical reasons for why it should it be?

For help in answering these questions, Ken and John turn to the show’s guest, Larry Diamond. Ken starts by pushing Plato’s critique: the pandering and deceit in campaigns are not how we should go about electing leaders. However, Larry points out, one man’s pandering is another’s responsiveness to public will. Larry agrees that the United States is not as good of a democracy as it can be, but we can work to improve it. He emphasizes increased transparency, tighter restrictions on campaign funding, and control of overbearing corporate interests as ways to strengthen democracy in our nation.

一位听众想知道，如果一个国家的文化或经济发展水平与美国不同，那么这个国家是否最适合非民主形式的政府。但拉里引用的证据却另有说法;民意调查证据表明，民主的价值具有普遍性。世界杯赛程2022赛程表欧洲区阿拉伯世界对民主的支持程度很高，而在相对贫穷的印度，民主正在蓬勃发展。有人可能会认为，中国的例子表明，非民主的政府体制在经济上更繁荣，但拉里断言，这样想会忽略一个事实，即在经济上最成功的五个国家中，有三个是民主国家。

Finally, Ken continues to express doubt that democracy is ideal and is concerned that it allows for easy manipulation of the ill-informed by the elite. Larry concludes with a myriad of examples to combat this belief, demonstrating that democracy is much more responsive to the public’s interests than we give it credit for.

• Roving Philosophical Reporter(Seek to 5:00): Caitlin Esch speaks with UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism student Major Tian about the differences in American and Chinese media. Although growing up, Tian was always critical of Chinese media, he explains that Western news sources show bias as well.
  
• 60-Second Philosopher(见49:16):伊恩·肖尔斯用幽默的嘲讽手法描述了美国人对民主的信心在减弱，以及如今流行媒体中公民话语的丧失。