Lay Citizens and “Experts” Are Both Needed in Civil Discussion

Many people think that they’re not knowledgable or savvy enough to think through public policy questions, so they shy away from discussing them.  In a previous post, I pointed out that this tendency, while understandable, greatly short-changes both the “average” citizen’s abilities and what they can get from civil discussions.

I also mentioned in that previous post that lay citizens’ and experts’ roles are complementary–that, in other words, they tend to contribute different insights to a civil discussion.  If you’re interested in delving more deeply into how lay citizens and experts enrich each other’s contributions in civil discussions, have a look at this article .