This leads to a second major challenge to economic analysis. By ignoring the distinction between wants and beliefs, market analysis threatens our democratic political process. By treating us as always and only consumers,market analysis ignores our lives as citizens. As consumers, we may seek to satisfy personal wants; as citizens, we have goals and aspirations that give meaning to our lives, that determine our nature as a people and culture, that define what we stand for as a people. The market leaves on room for debate, discussion, or dialogue in which we can defend our beliefs with reasons. It ignore the fact that people are active thinkers, not merely passive "want-ers." Most importantly, by ignoring the distinction between wants and beliefs, economic analysis reduces the most meaningful elements of human life-our beliefs and values-to matters of mere personal taste or opinion. Ours is a liberal democratic society-liberal in the sense that we value personal liberty to pursue our individual goals, but democratic in the sense that collectively we seek agreement about public goods and share goals. Thus, our political system leaves room for both personal and public interests. We are all, at one and the same time, both private individuals and public citizens. Market analysis ignores this public realm and thereby undermines our democratic political institutions. According to Sagoff,