The first example details what has happened in a place from which anyone who
wants to further democratize society and its key institutions has much to learn
about lasting reform—the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre. The second example
brings us back to the United States. Here, a massive multi-national corporation—
in this case Wal-Mart—has worked in coordination with allies among powerful
conservative economic, cultural, religious, and political movements. It has shown
over time how effective an educational strategy can be in pushing forward and
legitimating a very different and very limited conception of democracy. This is at
the very opposite end of the ideological spectrum from that of the critically
democratic successes in Porto Alegre.