Abstract

The first part of this essay endeavors to show why and how United States culture is facing a “Crisis in Democracy.” On the view presented the moral axioms of democracy, which include the right to equal opportunity and the right to self-determination, have been and continue to be subverted and corrupted. If this is the case, then the social unity for democracy is essentially destroyed. The argument proceeds, in the next several sections, to demonstrate the connection between “artistic dispositions” and the possibility of overcoming the crisis of democracy as described. The last section focuses on “the ecological violence” that arises from the corruption of democracy and how this violence is revealed in narrative art. Hence, the argument concludes, qualities inherent to narrative art allow citizens to comprehend the described crisis of democracy.