Through such processes, advocates of democracy believe the best government
will be obtained and maintained. But what about the other side of
the equation? From the standpoint of the citizen, what is there to be gained
by further involvement in the body politic? Generally speaking, political
theorists have come up with three answers, the ethical, the integrative, and
the educative. We have already explored the ethical argument—that active
involvement in political life is a part of realizing one’s fullest potential. To
Barber, for example, the aim of participation is to create communities of
active, interested citizens “who are united less by homogeneous interests
than by civic education and who are made capable of common purpose and
mutual action by virtue of their civic attitudes and participatory institutions”
(1984, 117). He sees citizens being transformed from having only private,
selfish interests to having a regard for the public good. Similarly, Pranger
writes that “The conduct of citizens in the culture of power is basically
unvirtuous in that it has little to do with the citizen’s main duty as an agent
responsible for common participation based on independent points of view,
eventually fostering that mutual responsibility which alone enriches the
commonwealth’s life” (1968, 53).