This article presents the author's critique on Paul G. Woodford's positions with regard to music education and the notion of liberal democracy. The author seeks to broaden the contextual/historical scholarship around John Dewey and makes it clear that liberalism is a contested concept, as is democracy. He calls for contemporary responses to Dewey's thought in relation both to (music) education and to the emerging political economy of neoliberalism. He takes issue with Woodford's treatment of postmodernists and asserts that Woodford's broad generalisations about postmodern positions lack textual detail. Similarly, he finds Woodford's notion of "abstract reason" confusing. He suggests a better path would be to problematise Dewey's political/democratic theory in relation to contemporary problems in post-industrial societies. He argues that a more robust theory of music education and democracy needs to include a more carefully constructed consideration of the political expression of music as a necessary part of music education. (Contains 8 notes.)