Carter is telling us what we already know. Our democracy is a sham and an oligarchy. As others as myself have pointed out the problems with US democracy are:
-In our system it is that wealthy people who can buy influence policy and elections while less wealthy and poor can only vote. They can work on a candidates campaign, but it is the wealthy who have the ability to influence the issues. Others, with out means, find they have no influence over the issues and are left only to vote yes or no on someone else's defined issues.
-The US Supreme Court, especially in the decision Citizens United V. The Federal Election Commission, has constantly ruled against any curbs on corporate spending in our election process. By kicking out any campaign financing laws and declaring that corporations are people, the courts reshuffled the playing field leaving corporate giants to spend millions against individuals who may not have any money to spend on influencing elections. In a real democracy no one would be allowed to spend money trying to influence public policy. This creates a corporate oligarchy.
-Our news media is biased and acts as the "gatekeeper." They decide what is considered news. They decide (and always cover the two parties) which parties get to take part in debates and who gets news coverage. This leaves a corporate sponsored news media to pick and chose who the public can take seriously in an election. The news media has more affect on political ideas than the people they are supposed to be informing and serving. They make it look like Marxist people don't even exist anymore.
-The two political parties, Democrats and Republicans, are sewn into the system. They get nearly all the news coverage and they are the only parties to have local, state and national primaries that serve the two parties and those parties only. They are able to keep out ideas that they consider outside the mainstream. That would preclude any kind of Marxism. The two parties are designed to prevent really big changes, even when the people want them.
-Large families, such as the Bush family (George H.W. and George W. for example) are tied to their own business interest and yet they also have a lot of political power. As with the Roosevelts and the Kennedys, such families often dominate the entire country as if they were dukes or earls.
- សតិវ អតុ
From The
Huff Post:
and Eric Zuesse:
On July 28, Thom Hartmann interviewed former U.S.
President Jimmy Carter, and, at the very end of his show (as if this massive
question were merely an afterthought), asked him his opinion of the 2010 Citizens United decision and the 2014 McCutcheondecision,
both decisions by the five Republican judges on the U.S. Supreme Court. These
two historic decisions enable unlimited secret money (including foreign money)
now to pour into U.S.
It violates the
essence of what made America U.S.
He
was then cut off by the program, though that statement by Carter should have
been the start of
the program, not its end. (And the program didn't end with an invitation for
him to return to discuss this crucial matter in depth -- something for which
he's qualified.)
So,
was this former president's provocative allegation merely his opinion? Or was
it actually lots more than that? It was lots more
than that.
Only
a single empirical study has actually been done in the social sciences
regarding whether the historical record shows that the United States has been,
during the survey's period, which in that case was between 1981 and 2002, a
democracy (a nation whose leaders represent the public-at-large), or instead an
aristocracy (or 'oligarchy') -- a nation in which only the desires of the
richest citizens end up being reflected in governmental actions. This study was
titled "Testing Theories of
American Politics,"and it was published by Martin Gilens and
Benjamin I. Page in the journalPerspectives on Politics,
issued by the American Political Science Association in September 2014. I had
summarized it earlier, on April 14, 2014, while the article was still awaiting
its publication.
The
headline of my summary-article was "U.S. Is an
Oligarchy Not a Democracy Says Scientific Study." I reported:
The clear finding is
that the U.S.
I then quoted the authors' own summary:
"The preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule,
near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy."
The scientific study closed by saying:
"In the United States U.S.
Their study investigated specifically
"1,779 instances between 1981 and 2002 in which a national survey of the
general public asked a favor/oppose question about a proposed policy
change," and then the policy-follow-ups, of whether or not the polled
public preferences had been turned into polices, or, alternatively, whether the
relevant corporate-lobbied positions had instead become public policy on the
given matter, irrespective of what the public had wanted concerning it.
The
study period, 1981-2002, covered the wake of the landmark 1976 U.S. Supreme
Court decision, Buckley v. Valeo, which had started the aristocratic
assault on American democracy, and which seminal (and bipartisan)
pro-aristocratic court decision is described as follows by wikipedia:
[It] struck down on
First Amendment grounds several provisions in the 1974 Amendments to the
Federal Election Campaign Act. The most prominent portions of the case struck
down limits on spending in campaigns, but upheld the provision limiting the
size of individual contributions to campaigns. The Court also narrowed, and
then upheld, the Act's disclosure provisions, and struck down (on separation of
powers grounds) the make-up of the Federal Election Commission, which as
written allowed Congress to directly appoint members of the Commission, an
executive agency.
Basically,
the Buckley decision, and subsequent (increasingly
partisan Republican) Supreme Court decisions, have allowed aristocrats to buy
and control politicians.
Already, the major 'news' media were owned
and controlled by the aristocracy, and 'freedom of the press' was really just
freedom of aristocrats to control the 'news' -- to frame public issues in the
ways the owners want. The media managers who are appointed by those owners
select, in turn, the editors who, in their turn, hire only reporters who
produce the propaganda that's within the acceptable range for the owners, to be
'the news' as the public comes to know it.
For the rest click
here.
Of the earliest writings on Democracy
we have the Greeks. Pericles was one of the earliest politicians to give
pro-democracy speeches. Democracy came from words that mean "the people
rule." Today that can't really be said.
From a speech by Pericles:
"Our form of government is called a democracy
because..."
"... Our form of does
not imitate the laws of neighboring states. On the contrary, we are rather a
model to others. Our form of government is called a democracy because its
administration is in the hands, not of a few, but of the whole people. In the
settling of private disputes, everyone is equal before the law. Election to
public office is made on the basis of ability, not on the basis of membership
to a particular class. No man is kept out of public office by the obscurity of
his social standing because of his poverty, as long as he wishes to be of
service to the state. And not only in our public life are we free and open, but
a sense of freedom regulates our day-to-day life with each other. We do not
flare up in anger at our neighbor if he does what he likes. And we do not show
the kind of silent disapproval that causes pain in others, even though it is
not a direct accusation. In our private affairs, then, we are tolerant and
avoid giving offense. But in public affairs, we take great care not to break
law because of the deep respect we have for them. We give obedience to the men
who hold public office from year to year. And we pay special regard to those
laws that are for the protection of the oppressed and to all the unwritten laws
that we know bring disgrace upon the transgressor when they are broken.
"Let me add another
point. We have had the good sense to provide for our spirits more opportunities
for relaxation from hard work than other people. Throughout the year, there are
dramatic and athletic contests and religious festivals. In our homes we find
beauty and good taste, and the delight we find every day in and this drives
away our cares. And because of the greatness of our city, all kinds of imports
flow in to us from all over the world. It is just as natural for us to enjoy
the good products of other nations as it is to enjoy the things that we produce
ourselves.
"The way we live differs
in another respect from that of our enemies. Our city is open to all the world.
We have never had any aliens' laws to exclude anyone from finding our or
seeking anything here, nor any secrets of the city that an enemy might find out
about and use to his advantage. For our security, we rely not on defensive
arrangements or secrecy but on the courage that springs from our souls, when we
are called into action. As for education, the enemy subjects their children
from their earliest boyhood to the most laborious training in manly courage.
We, with our unrestricted way of life, are just as ready to face the dangers as
they are. And here is the proof. The Spartans never invade Attica
using only their own troops, but they bring along all their allies. But when we
attack a nearby city, we usually win by ourselves even though we fight on enemy
soil against men who defend their own homes. No enemy, in fact, has even
engaged our total military power because our practice is constantly to attend
to the needs of our navy, as well as to send our troops on many land excursions.
Yet, if our enemies engage one division of our forces and defeat it, they boast
that they have beaten our entire army, and if they are defeated they say that
they lost to our whole army. So it is not painful discipline that makes us go
out to meet danger, but our easy confidence. Our natural bravery springs from
our way of life, not from the compulsion of laws. Also we do not spend our time
anticipating the sufferings that are still in the future, and when the test is
upon us, we show ourselves no less brave than those who are continually
preparing themselves for battle. Athens
deserves to be admired for these qualities and for others as well......
1 comment:
Bob Avakian has been saying this for years.
Bob Avakian has a New Synthesis of Communism.
You need to engage with that.
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