Issues. Isn't Democracy the Issue?
"Twas the night before Christmas
and all thru the land
the people were shopping
while their President was killing innocent children in other countries"
Regarding the "issues". Aren't all issues dependent on a single issue - democracy? And since we don't have democracy, shouldn't we try to get that first?
You might want a fifteen dollar national minimum wage, but does everybody? You might want a single national health care system, but does everybody? You want to address climate change, but does everybody? For those that complain about the fact that we have a corrupt political system and that all the major decisions regarding this country are made by a ruling elite while we the Serfs have no say in the matter, what are you complaining about? You're complaining that we don't live in a democracy, that our political system is undemocratic, that our voices are not heard, that the people don't matter. That's not going to change, the next election could be even worse.
So are we to just wait for the next election?
Are you willing to live with democratic decisions by the people? That would certainly be better than living with the decisions made by the rich and powerful ruling elite. Just look where that's gotten us. So why should we push for a higher minimum wage or single payer health care, or even an end to the wars, before we demand democracy in this country. First we need democracy, then the people can decide on the issues.
Hell, everybody knows it by know, don't they? Isn't it like the worst kept secret on the planet, that this democracy thing is all bullshit?
We can go out in the streets and protest against Wall Street and protest against war but that doesn't get us anywhere. We need to demand what is rightfully ours, democracy. An equal voice over our lives and the planet. Fuck these people that think they can rule you and me.
Why don't we at least demand a national referendum on democracy? Have the people vote like they have in other countries. Why in the hell do we put up with this political system that makes us all nothing but numbers and percentages? People listen to songs about freedom, Richie Havens, Woodstock, ya FREEDOM! But we allow ourselves to be continually ruled by those that have the most fucking money. We don't try to change that.
I was reading an article on Counterpunch which also lamented about the lack of a movement for democracy, but in the end the suggestions put forth, "election reform", restore "integrity", etc., were the same old thing that won't change a system that is meant to be undemocratic. I read another article about the direct democracy referendums occurring in Europe, like Brexit, that discussed the merits of moving toward more of that, more direct democracy, power to the people. It's hard to argue with the merits, isn't that what we all want, an equal say in things?
It won't happen in this country unless we demand it as our right and it won't happen if all we focus on is trying to get our "representatives" to make silly ass changes to a dead political system and improvements in our living conditions through that political system. We have to get his out in the open.
Comments
Just a rant. Take up some space on the essay list.
Yes. (edited)
Getting big money out of politics is how I see democracy being restored. I keep fighting for it at the local and state level where I am.
...and I was able to discuss this with Keith Ellison when he was in my city last week. I wasn't given permission to repeat his words, but I felt he's on the correct side of this issue. *If* he can pull off a win, there may be some life left in the party. I don't currently have any hope there's life anywhere else, so I'm watching that.
Perez felt to me like he was trying too hard. I like Buckley A LOT - he went right out and proclaimed what I'm fighting for, but he doesn't seem to have a shot at the chair-ship. Hopefully, his voice will be amplified going forward. He is on the DNC board currently. I'd like to see Tulsi reinstated.
Stein is not paving the way for a third choice.
'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member
I'm impressed with Aristotle
I went and checked that quote you led off with, from "Politics", written by Aristotle in 350 B.C.E.. We can have Athenian democracy, without the slaves and gender discrimination, using the internet.
Beware the bullshit factories.
But then
what good is democracy when most people sre racist greedheads? We need schooling in civics and ethics.
But then kids won't get the training for a living wage job. we need to give up on capitalism. But without jobs we'll need something to do or there'll be rioting in the streets, because people sre racist greedheads looking for an excuse to fuck over someone else. Cynicism is the new Christianity.
On to Biden since 1973
Uninformed voters are inadvertently not helping
They're just promoting brainwashing. I include the status quo Democrats with that. The propaganda needs to be circumvented, discredited and shamed. It's amazing to me, that because of the filtering and propaganda, so many people have been manipulated into denying science, except for certain immediately beneficial situations, like needing to discover oil reserves or making weapons.
Beware the bullshit factories.
I do not believe that most people are racist greedheads.
And bulls in a china shop can be remarkably agile and break little. They can see and have no malevolence until prodded. Well, we have been prodded. But could still do no damage in a china shop except for mob behavior.
Since we do not have a democracy, never did, that is an allowance that has been used to settle us into USA, USA. And requires membership fealty.
Internet usage is so high that such an online vote on Democracy may now be possible. With a full list of hits of hack attacks. DHS would be up near the top.
Merry merry.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
The elitist excuse, the masses are ignorant, we can't
allow them to have a say in things. No political system is going to be perfect, but the one we have now has us being ruled by the rich. That has to change and if it means giving some "racist greedheads" an equal say in things, then so be it. Besides, the real racist greedheads are the ones currently in charge.
We will not get democracy by demanding it.
We couldn't even get a strong public option by demanding it.
If we really want democracy, in my opinion, armed revolution is the only way we MAY get it. Or we may get a junta.
The junta may have already happened
with the allowance of a citizen-figurehead that we were led to believe ran the shop. And not vice versa. Could explain Obama's tenure...
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Nah, not a junta ... just his date
I'm going with the simple explanation regarding Obama: he's danced "wit dem dat brought 'um."
It was the night of his first presidential election. My wife and I were watching the television coverage from Grant Park in Chicago. Some reporter caught a brief moment with Obama as he was leaving the festive stage and managed to ask some quick question - something akin to "What are the first things you going to do?" Above the din and somewhat over his shoulder, Obama quickly replied with a slightly shouted, short one sentence answer: "I'm going to surprise a lot of people." He then continued to exit.
I'll never forget this. It was as though someone threw a bucket of ice water on me. Suddenly, my ears perked up and the cynic in me immediately sounded the air raid sirens. The Hopey/Changey thing still kept sway in my mind, but now the seed of doubt was there and I was on the lookout for trouble.
Trouble showed up right away. As soon as Obama started filling his new cabinet with former Bush people and Wall Street types, I knew what he had meant with that statement, "I'm going to surprise a lot of people."
In the years since that election night back in 2008, I've tried to find a cite that the brief exchange between Obama and that reporter happened; either some mention of it in print or a video clip. I've never been able to find it, but I can still see it in my mind as though it happened five minutes ago.
"Hope and Change" was never more than what Obama later described - dismissively - as campaign rhetoric. Obama did indeed dance with those that brought him and those that brought him were the Wall Street finance houses. They paid for his presidential campaign and Obama remained loyal to them. Perhaps we should credit him for the trait of loyalty.
Should be Obama danced with the ones who BOUGHT him
Perfect, LSM!
Yeah, they bought him. He "stayed bought," too.
I don't agree that we need violence to get what is our
right as human beings on this planet. I think if we can organize to elect one politician, raising hundreds of millions in the process, we can organize around a single goal. This country is built on an illusion and maybe if we fully expose that illusion and demand our true rights as We the People, we can do it without an armed revolution. We certainly aren't going to do it if we don't demand it.
I think what could get their attention
Is boycotts, going as long as we can with enough people to not buy anything for a week or longer.
No gas, food or anything else that isn't essential.
If enough people joined in a nation wide boycott that cut into their profits then maybe we could get their attention.
Maybe include work stoppages too, but that might put too many people's jobs in jeopardy.
But this won't happen until enough people have decided that they have had enough of their bullshit.
We aren't close to that yet and besides our country is too divided. Just as they planned so that while we are fighting ourselves they are robbing us blind.
I agree that violence isn't the first thing to try because we know that they are ready for us to try it.
And that's another reason why they militarized the police. And until enough cops have had enough and join us, they will continue to protect the elites.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Will boycotts be effective
now that they have free access to the global marketplace?
Maybe we need global boycotts. That isn't impossible - people are fed up around the world.
I didn't say we couldn't organize.
How do we understand Democracy?
What is it?
How does it work?
Why is it the best and most natural form of political expression, i.e. the "worst form of government except all the others".
The man who IMHO best answers these questions is the great John Dewey. He describes democracy as not just a mere form of government. He defines democracy more broadly as "a way of life."
We first need to understand that we are democratic in our very nature. We need to know that democracy runs within us. Democracy is instinctual. It is in our our DNA. We are the product of living in egalitarian hunter gatherer bands for many thousands of years prior to the rise of Nation State Kleptocracy. (Jared Diamond)
We live in a political world that largely subscribes to the Walter Lippmann theory of rule by expert or technocracy. Dewey counters with another master-work, The Public and Its Problems:
Here is the rub. Many of us can and do see that rule by expert has become rule for expert. Of course, the 1% are increasingly selcting the "experts". This is the authoritarian's version of "improved communication". Russia, Russia, Russia is just the latest statement being communicated to the public.
Dewey also describes the numerous and difficult to overcome obstacles facing the public:
Democracy must start from within. We must recognize it as our essential way of life. Only then can we filter out the distractions and become the public we know we are prevented from becoming.
Thank you for your thought provoking essay/rant.
Attaining this Democracy thing...
We will never have this Democracy thing in this country until we fix one thing.
As long as there are people, any people, who have more money than the rest of us put together, then we cannot have Democracy. As long as we hang on to an economic system that allows (nay, encourages, applauds, revels in) the sociopathic rape of all for the benefit of a few thousands out of the hundreds of millions, we cannot have Democracy. We cannot have Democracy becasue those few can clearly see what it would mean to them, the loss of control, loss of power, loss of plunder, loss of quarterly profits, loss of all of the best just for them. We cannot have Democracy becasue, as we can clearly see each and every day, the armies of lesser sociopaths (those who Need permission to hurt someone more than they need to own everything) that the Greater sociopaths hire and arm and train to kill us if told to, or allowed to, will not let us have it; then they too would lose their sick place of being. We cannot have Democracy just becasue we ask for it, just becasue we wish for it, just because we hold a scary protest for it, or becasue it is time for it. Where ever there has been the occurrence, however fleeting, of Democracy, it came about becasue those on the bottom finally stood up and took down the current feudalistic system, stomped in into the ground, burned its symbols, and made Democracy appear.
De we think that this system is any different? No we do not. Each of us here recognizes the strangle-hold this system has on Freedom. No one has any real freedom unless they are in the Club, Sociopaths America, Sociopaths International, Sociopaths Galactic, Sociopaths Universal; unless they too have more money than all the rest of us put together; unless they too are a "Smart Person" like tRump, who knows how to screw everyone without prejudice becasue he thinks the same of everyone (nothing) who is not him and his own.
But...overthrowing the Great Sociopathy is a messy business. It is dangerous and people get hurt, lives are disrupted, feelings are hurt, clothes get messed up, some will have miss their favorite TV shows, and all other manner of inconveniences occur. Hell, some people are even gonna die if that gets started. And then it can take a long time to get it all worked out as to how it will work and who will keep it all running smoothly and who's going to keep a watch on everyone to make sure the sociopaths don't make a come back - because, as we should all know deep in our bones, the average person is never going to do all that. It is just so icky to think about it all the time and there are the kids to keep up with and on and on, and in the end, even if we somehow succeeded, it will unravel...becasue it is just so hard to get it and keep, and even if we Killed all the sociopaths (or the ones we could recognize and off), there are always more, or the ones we missed, or new ones that are born everyday, and they are relentless...and they have friends all over the world, and they are relentless and will work against our Democracy until they can destroy it once again. And, besides, nothing in this world can last forever, usually not even very long, until it is over turned. So what is the point?
But...wouldn't it be nice if there was some Democracy here, or somewhere, even for just a little while? Might it be worth whatever the price to acquire might be?
We do have some democracy at the state level.
I think around 30 states have referendum/initiative systems, counties, cities have such systems which amount to direct democracy. Here in my state we voted for legalize marijuana and gay marriage. We vote to raise or lower taxes, a whole range of issues.
I don't see why we can't form a movement to at least create a referendum system nationally.
You're right, it won't be free, the plutocracy won't go down easy, there will be a price.
one of the best things about Arizona is referendums
The constitution of the state of Arizona allows a wide variety of entities (citizens, the state legislature, local governments) to put issues on the ballot. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
We (the citizens) passed a law in November that would raise the minimum wage to $10/hour effective January 1, 2017, and to $12 over time. Yay us! But right now the chambers of commerce are in court, trying to overturn it. One good judge threw out the first challenge, but there's another suit trying to at least delay implementation.
The PTB hate the referendum process here. They've tried several times to remove it from the constitution, but luckily it has been defeated each time. They hate it because it's the closest thing to direct democracy in the state, and that's why I love it.
There is no justice in America, but it is the fight for justice that sustains you.
--Amiri Baraka
Didn't Arizona have a "clean elections" initiative at one time?
I seem to recall that it passed and might have served as a model, but obviously something happened to make it ineffective.
Beware the bullshit factories.
SCOTUS happened to it
It was struck down based on the argument that it was compelled speech. It was a weird pretzel logic ruling.
Oh yeah, them
SCOTUS
Beware the bullshit factories.
You've zeroed in on something important.
But not the most important, imho.
We must unite as a people. Democrats, Republicans, progressive or conservative, rural or citydweller, we must find common ground ( return of democracy?) and act as one.
Progressives and Teapartiers are alike in many ways.
Divide and conquer the big banks one at a time.
Boycott those big businesses destroying main street merchants.
Cut up your credit cards ( Credexit) and deal in cash as much as possible.
Keep your money local. Save save save. Cash, not digital money. Greenbacks, it's what the Billionaires are vacumming up. Under your mattress, in your toolbox, under the garden, doesn't matter. Keeping it from the Billionaires will drive them mad with unrequited greed.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Yep /nt
Beware the bullshit factories.
Hey B A
Hope all is well with you.
Hey didn't Obama say that the war was over in Afghanistan one time? Heh.
OT but we are drinking wine and watching, via Hulu,
Ever see it?
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
Hi d.o., ya I'm doing well.
Hope you are too. Having a little wine myself, the movie sounds like a good idea.
Afghanistan, I do remember. He made promises and things. And now it's not even discussed.
Maybe 2017 will be the year of the Serf, you never know. Keep hope alive.
Here's a toast to you from me and jakkalbessie. Appreciate you
Not that it matters, but seems like there was a whole army of fans at OP who said trust BO
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.