As some of you may know, Playboy magazine runs a section about half-way through the magazine called The Forum, where Playboy invites scholars and pundits to contribute their views, usually on politics and the state of the nation. If you've ever heard anybody claim that they just subscribe to Playboy for the articles, odds are they're talking about The Forum.
This year's October issue has an essay in the Forum by former Watergate lawyer and author of Broken Government and Worse than Watergate, John Dean. In this essay Dean argues that, for some perverse reason, politicians and pundits from the Democratic party don't think the American people want to hear about, or are capable of understanding, the process of government. Rather they have certain various "pet issues" and policies that flow from those concerns. Dean disagrees with this assertion, saying that until Democrats learn to articulate process concerns, Republicans will continue to have virtually unfettered power to distort and control the political landscape.
Follow me, as I fill out Dean's position, add some evidence from other sources, and make the case that a shift to process dialog in politics is even more important and fundamental to political progress than even Dean asserts.
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