This book begins with two suppositions: The idea of the active life is worthretrieving and the philosophy of John William Miller commands serious atten-tion. Neither the idea nor the philosophy is given much consideration in currentdiscussions. Yet the possibility of a viable and compelling metaphysics of democ-racy is liable to attract attention and strike many as worth some intellectual effort.My claim here is that the strength and viability of a metaphysics that comportswith and informs democratic life comes by way of joining the ancient idea of theactive life with the contemporary thought of Miller. If we are to undertake a seri-ous reflection on our democratic way of life, we will be well served by turning ourattention to Miller’s recuperation of the active life as a leading philosophical idea.