The instance of public
In Dewey's analysis, "public" is a term we ought to reserve for the instance of public demonstration or activity. Therefore, he believes a "public" is formed whenever people are rallied (usually by something bad). He thinks of "public" like a birdwatcher might think of a crow's murder. Therefore, the idea that the public is always in the business of serving itself through government and economy is wrong, he maintains.
The real function of government
The hypothetical goal of government is clear from instinct. Obviously, one hopes the government will protect their right to life free from the fear of eminent death (cf. Hobbes), and hopefully also, the government is responsible for jurisprudence. But actually, Dewey argues in this book that the real function of governments is to ensure the status quo, only changing when the public demands it, which they often won't do until an issue has become dire.
The true heart of democracy
The point in Dewey's work is simply that the mechanism of democracy was ideal for a time, but given the unimaginable population boom, given also the diversity of nations like America—he feels democracy can be outgrown, and it seems to him we have already outgrown it. The "minority" interests are not secondary interests, he reminds his reader, so when a group of people is disenfranchised regularly by a democracy, it is already broken, he argues.
