The Doom of the American System?
by Russ Douthat
MARCH 3, 2015 9:58 AM
http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/03/the-doom-of-the-american-system/?comments#permid=14298497
I agree that the "American System" is doomed - see my e-book
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0053T3OJ2
However, my take is different:
Already, democracy in America is a fiction. We stiill go to the polls (or, as in WA, mail in our ballots) but our vote means virtually nothing. First and foremost, with the Supreme Court ruling that, yes, money = freedom of speech, the electoral process is completely dominated by the 1%, or even 0.1%, where it is no longer "one person, one vote", but "one dollar, one vote".
Beyond that, even if we cling to the fiction, that the person "we send to congress" will actually have our best interest at heart, the reality is, that even before being elected, candidates are under the complete control of "political operatives", again meaning moneyed interests, who advise them on how to flummox us, literally, into voting for them - after the election, they are owned, lock stock and barrel, by these special interests who supported them.
I think American Democracy, already in a death-spiral, will finally end when "the people" realize that a new aristocracy has already taken over, and as before the French Revolution, this aristocracy is just stringing us along with "let them eat cake".
I still hope that "the end" will be essentially peaceful, with a new Constitutional Convention" to transform us into a parliamentary system, and re-write the constitution to prevent such ludicrous interpretations as many of those by the current Supreme Court.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0053T3OJ2
However, my take is different:
Already, democracy in America is a fiction. We stiill go to the polls (or, as in WA, mail in our ballots) but our vote means virtually nothing. First and foremost, with the Supreme Court ruling that, yes, money = freedom of speech, the electoral process is completely dominated by the 1%, or even 0.1%, where it is no longer "one person, one vote", but "one dollar, one vote".
Beyond that, even if we cling to the fiction, that the person "we send to congress" will actually have our best interest at heart, the reality is, that even before being elected, candidates are under the complete control of "political operatives", again meaning moneyed interests, who advise them on how to flummox us, literally, into voting for them - after the election, they are owned, lock stock and barrel, by these special interests who supported them.
I think American Democracy, already in a death-spiral, will finally end when "the people" realize that a new aristocracy has already taken over, and as before the French Revolution, this aristocracy is just stringing us along with "let them eat cake".
I still hope that "the end" will be essentially peaceful, with a new Constitutional Convention" to transform us into a parliamentary system, and re-write the constitution to prevent such ludicrous interpretations as many of those by the current Supreme Court.
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