The Democratic Facade
I've only read a couple pages of these excerpts, but I think they're pretty well written. On the other hand, I don't think that many Americans really care whether we live in a democracy or not. In fact, I think if they understood the real effects of doing so, most would choose not to live in an authentic democracy, because that would preclude them from the possibility of the advantages of great wealth and the exploitation of others it takes to garner great wealth. Of course, most people are never going to get to that point anyway, but they are encouraged by those already there to think they might, because that keeps them playing the game and supporting those at the top.
America's history is replete with evidence that we have never been, nor are we now, a democracy. Rather we are a wholly owned subsidiary of an elite class. And here's a quick (obvious) list of how they have maintained their holdings (I'm sure you can come up with more items):
Repression:
genocide - American natives
slavery
Civil War
bloody strike busting and attacks on organizers - America's union foundations
WWII detention camps and property confiscation for Japanese- and European-Americans
House on Unamerican Activities and "red baiting"
Cvil Rights movement police action
police action against protesters
arrests for Free Speech Zone violations
reprisals against whistleblowers
Idea and communication control:
expense of higher education
elite ownership of media
expense of advertising
government control of patents
approved school curicula and textbooks
Control of the wealth:
selective taxation
private control of natural resources and utilities
Election and policy process manipulation:
property restrictions for voters
slaves denied voting rights
women denied voting rights
voter intimidation
vote fraud
lobbying or direct membership in Congress
legislative policy-making without popular vote
districting manipulations
expensive campaigns
campaign focus on ideologies
limited public debates, replaced by (expensive) political advertisements
electoral college rather than direct vote for president
two-party system
no instant runoff voting
intervention of Supreme Court in election
covert operations and policy formation without transparency
executive privilege
no term limits on Congressional seats
little or no accountability for corporate or government office abuses
Back to the The Democratic Facade:
Had the delegates to the Constitutional Convention been representative of the people instead of the merchants, bankers, and plantation owners who composed it in secrecy in 1787, a much more democratic document would have emerged. In 1776, for example, backwoods farmers, laborers, artisans, and small tradesmen had taken control of Philadelphia and drafted a constitution that extended popular control to an extent "beyond any American government before or since." It created a single-house legislature and a weak executive (composed of twelve elected members of a Supreme Executive Council). Representatives had to stand for election every year before an electorate made up of anyone, propertied or not, who paid taxes. Compared to this plan, the Constitution should be regarded as a conservative, even counterrevolutionary document.
...In its self-proclaimed sphere of influence, the Caribbean and Latin America, the United States has repeatedly destroyed democracy and protected repressive regimes. Democracies based on mass participation have consistently been opposed, often violently, by U.S. political and corporate elites. Conversely, political systems pasted over with a transparent patina of democracy have been both supported and sponsored. These ostensible democracies are often as far removed from popular influence as are the military dictatorships that they often replace, but they are enthusiastically embraced as "democratic" by U.S. foreign policy elites. These cynical manipulations of democratic symbols can be used as a mirror that faithfully reflects the ideal of democracy embraced by America's elites. They tolerate democratic processes only if these processes pose no significant danger to their autonomy and political hegemony.
...In its self-proclaimed sphere of influence, the Caribbean and Latin America, the United States has repeatedly destroyed democracy and protected repressive regimes. Democracies based on mass participation have consistently been opposed, often violently, by U.S. political and corporate elites. Conversely, political systems pasted over with a transparent patina of democracy have been both supported and sponsored. These ostensible democracies are often as far removed from popular influence as are the military dictatorships that they often replace, but they are enthusiastically embraced as "democratic" by U.S. foreign policy elites. These cynical manipulations of democratic symbols can be used as a mirror that faithfully reflects the ideal of democracy embraced by America's elites. They tolerate democratic processes only if these processes pose no significant danger to their autonomy and political hegemony.
And, we are back to the present...Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti, and Venezuela, to name a few "problem" areas.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
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