The Role of Public Reason in Education and Democracy

Posted on Dec 6, 2024 in Law & Jurisprudence

Public Reason and Public Education

If we all participate in the public construction of reason, it is obvious that we need to have at our disposal the necessary means to form our opinion. This can only be achieved through education.

Education is the backbone of public reason. The state is obliged to foresee an educational system that makes a minimum education level required for responsible citizenship available to all through a free and compulsory system.

Public Reason and the Media

Television, radio, print, and the Internet are media that have two basic obligations to fulfill: to provide accurate information about events and to reflect on what happens (opinions). All this is according to the law and existing codes of ethics that regulate the journalistic profession.

It is very difficult to distinguish the presentation of facts from your assessment. Why?

  • The format is not neutral. All news has a format that transmits its degree of importance.
  • The language used in the news is “value-laden.”
  • Information is a business worth billions.
  • The media are owned by corporations and focus groups (linked to churches and parties) that have specific interests to defend, which usually dictate the media’s information policy.
  • Consumers receive information with very limited ability to compare it critically. The reasons are:

– The vast amount of information.
– The impossibility of comparing the facts narrated in situ.

Despite all these difficulties, the opinion is a right that public authorities should safeguard. To do this:

  • Regulate the right to information by law (punishment for defamation).
  • Establish codes of conduct to self-regulate the exercise of journalism.
  • Set style books.
  • Establish public media.
  • Promote the plurality of information.

Public Reason and Political Parties

Political parties are comprised of members who pay dues, professionals who perform administrative roles, and supporters who publicly endorse the program and candidates.

The functions of political parties are:

  • Contribute to the formation of public opinion by articulating social demands for a government project.
  • Speak and vote in parliamentary debates.

This must be financed, and here the options are:

  • Public funding: from the state, depending on the number of seats won.
  • Private funding: from individuals.

A political party is a stable organization whose main objective is to conquer and exercise political power to organize society and the state in accordance with the ideology of the social sector interests it represents.

Political parties are subject to bitter criticism:

  • They are accused of acting with their backs to the voters, breaching their campaign promises, but we can all participate.
  • They are accused of seeking power only for power, but it is their obligation.
  • They are accused of adhering to the discipline of freedom, remaining votes to representatives, but the discipline to vote is a response to support programs, not personal opinions.
  • They are accused of failing to offer open training to voters, but it is not about choosing people, but rather the programs of political parties.
  • They are accused of thinking only of enriching themselves, but politicians are more controlled professionals: they make a public declaration of assets and are audited constantly.

But despite the criticisms, the fact is that the pluralism of political parties is the only guarantee of pluralism of ideas and democracy.

3. The ESDD as a Welfare State

The ESDD has to cater to social rights or so-called third-generation rights that regulate performance in terms of work, education, health, housing, and integration of the socially excluded.

As we saw, the positions presented, inspired by proletarian Marxism, diverged during the nineteenth century into two lines of action: the communist revolution and social-democratic reformism. In this second way, it was to solve class conflicts through institutionalization within the democratic political system, which required:

  • Recognized and legitimate spokesmen for the interests of employees (parties and trade unions).
  • Legislation setting out social rights and guarantees for their satisfaction.

The gains in social rights reflect the law of an ESDD, such as ours:

  • Property Conquest. In front of liberalism and communism, the ESDD accepts a free market economy and defends private property but subject to its social function, which is:

– Public ownership of certain natural and cultural assets
– Possibility of expropriation
– A tax system based on the principles of equality and progressivity (those who have more pay). In labor law, various measures of ESDD provide: “The concern expressed by guaranteeing the right to work for all citizens (reflected in the Constitution), health and safety measures at work, adjustment of the conditions governing dismissal, prohibition of forced and child labor, maximum working hours, and the minimum wage.” Prohibition of all forms of employment discrimination. Establishment of guarantees for freedom of association and job training minimum. Regarding health, the ESDD establishes a system through its public health. As for protection, the ESDD establishes a retirement pension system, unemployment coverage, and “social income.”

The ESDD recognizes housing as a right. Consequently, its governments develop policies for social housing.

We have seen that the ESDD workers need to be represented by spokesmen to defend their legitimate interests. Unions have historically been responsible for carrying out this work. They were born in the late eighteenth century to balance two forces in a conflict over their competing interests: employers and workers.

The first countries to legalize unions were France and Germany.

The legalization of unions was a major milestone for the ESDD.

Despite their important role, unions are criticized on these grounds:

  • They prioritize the interests of workers over the interests of the company.
  • They prioritize the interests of the organization and their afflictions over the interests of those they represent.
  • They are accused of selling out to capital, agreeing with the administration or the company in ways that workers would never have accepted.
  • They are charged with defending the privileges of employment at the expense of the interests of the public (public employee unions).

Unions are now a cornerstone of the social pact, thus being financed by the state.

Moreover, here too we find NGOs, which seek to develop joint work that remains unattended by the usual institutional mechanisms due to lack of interest.


2. ESDD as a Democratic State

2.1 Democratic Decision: Separation of Powers and Rule of Law

The ESDD is democratic, assuming a process of legitimation of political power through public choice. The “people decide.” This includes:

  • Free elections (every 4, 5, or 7 years).
  • Universal suffrage. Exceptions: minors or those penalized for a crime.
  • All voters can stand as candidates.
  • Secret ballot.
  • Decisions shall be established by the rule of the majority.

Suffrage is exercised to decide on:

  • The constitutional model of the state (constitutional monarchy, republic, etc.).
  • Representatives (House and Senate).

State powers and functions are governed by their own organs. They are:

  • The Legislative Branch: consisting of deputies and senators, is responsible for making laws and approving budgets.
  • Executive power: constituted by the government, which develops the government program, proposes laws, directs domestic and foreign policy, civil administration, and military and homeland defense.
  • The Judiciary: composed of judges and magistrates, is charged with enforcing the law in resolving conflicts. They are independent and irremovable. Its highest governing body is the General Council of the Judiciary.

The mutual independence of the branches is ensured through various measures. For example, judges are appointed by the Council of the Judiciary.

Another measure is the so-called immunity from prosecution for parliamentarians.

But the most important guarantee for the smooth functioning of the three powers is their strict compliance with the law. The rule of law is embodied in the following principles:

  • Principle of legality: we are all subject to the law in the same way.
  • Principle of hierarchy of norms: Constitution > Organic Laws > Ordinary Laws.
  • Non-retroactivity principle.
  • Principle of legal certainty: the law will be guided by previous standards.
  • Principle of accountability.

Besides the three branches, our constitutional system establishes a body called the Constitutional Court, whose members are elected by the three branches of government.

Its functions are:

  • Determining the constitutionality of laws.
  • Resolving conflicts of jurisdiction between the State and the Autonomous Communities.
  • Protecting and defending any citizen.

2.2 The ESDD and Configuration of the Popular Will

Democracy has two fundamental moments: a moment of deliberation and a moment of decision (vote).

Deliberation hopes that everyone’s vote is reasonable (public reason). The public establishment of reason is not possible without a catalog of civil liberties, a universal education system, political parties, and media.

Public Reason and Civil Liberties

All citizens of the political community can exercise their right to self-reflection (autonomous reason). This implies:

Before modernity, people had to accept what scholars thought for them: the authority (tradition, church, state) felt by all. With enlightened modernity, subjects become citizens and do not accept the views of authority. It is accepted that opinions must come exclusively supported by the strength of arguments. The public use of reason is guaranteed by law to prevent abuse and coercion by established powers. The first version of the right to freedom of opinion and expression occurs hand in hand with the idea of religious tolerance. During medieval Christianity, the collusion between church and state was forged (one king, one people, one faith). In the current state, religious denominations (opinion) and religion (expression) are free, provided they do not disturb social peace. The idea of religious tolerance leads to a fundamental characteristic of the ESDD: its secularism. The secular state opposes the confessional state, which assumes a particular religion and prohibits others.