Officials defending democratic processes can enact democracy even from self-interested motives

Evidence

Strzok laid out what citizens may not have known but need to know about how internal hierarchical organization and entrenched processes are designed to ensure that due process is followed and the rule of law upheld. This is a fraught example because, in part, Strzok was defending himself. But in the context of malignant normality, it is a compelling instance of how officials can enact democracy. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 361

Categorization

• XREF: Relates to the reader’s theme of small acts of decorum: an embattled official’s procedural testimony as a democratic act despite self-interest. — connects to: Citizen activists were driven by democratic principle, not mere self-defense against a toxic dump — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics: how Americans…, 79; Consciousness-raising theorists held that democratic citizens act irrationally and need awareness to resist exploitation — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology: Key Readings, 101; Democratic legitimacy requires officials to explain and avow fair process, not just follow it — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 353 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Conspicuous adherence to democratic process can re-legitimate government #corroborates (0.75) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 44