|
"Authority
is never with hate."
Euripides (480-406 B.C.E.), Greek Poet |
We live
under the reign of almost universal political contempt.
It doesn't matter which party, politicians are in the
employ of others, and that isn't remotely those who
voted for them, but rather those who could afford to
finance them.
Oh, they
don't come out and say it (often); but look at how
politicians treat those who claim to be their
constituents.
The only
common denominator is betrayal. Former president, Bill
Clinton perfected this to a high art. Virtually
everybody who voted for him got betrayed, sooner or
later. And the real deal is, it isn't personal; that's
the way the system was designed, and has developed.
To many
of the men who we are accustomed to call 'the founding
fathers', the word 'democracy' was a bad word. They
hated, dreaded, and feared the very idea of a democracy.
New York's delegate to the Constitutional Convention of
1789, Alexander Hamilton admired monarchy, and sought
ways to check "the amazing violence and turbulence of
the democratic spirit" [see Jerry Fresia's *Toward an
American Revolution: Exposing the Constitution & Other
Illusions* (Boston: South End Press, 1988), p. 16].
Historian Brian Price put it neatly at a lecture at
Evergreen College in Olympia, Washington, when he asked:
Is it
possible for a class which exterminates the native
peoples of the Americas, replaces them by raping Africa
for humans it then denigrates and dehumanizes as slaves,
while cheapening and degrading its own working class --
is it possible for such a class to create democracy,
equality, and to advance the cause of human freedom? (Fresia,
p. 5)
It took
centuries of struggles by Africans, workers, women, and
others to begin to erect some semblance of democracy,
but, as in a pendulum, things swing from one end to
another; nothing stands still. When folks stop fighting,
other interests fight on.
In the
present political structure, wealthy anti-democratic
elements continue to wage war through the purchase (or
rental) of politicians, who then use their positions to
advance the economic interests of their benefactors.
That's how quietly, almost invisibly, through both
Democrats and Republicans, the silent march of globalism
has come to almost dominate all areas of our lives. The
WTO, the IMF, and other international pacts, eat out the
hearts of local communities, by supporting the efforts
of international trade, while carving out spaces where
little vestiges of democracy once reigned.
And war,
because it is used by States to mobilize people in ways
they wouldn't accept otherwise, is but an instrument in
this global trade war. I mean, seriously: does anybody
*really* believe that the Iraq war is 'to bring
democracy?'
The
great socialist leader, Emma Goldman, at her anti-war
trial (for opposing World War I), said:
"Verily
poor as we are in democracy, how can we give of it to
the world?" [Howard Zinn & Anthony Arnove, *Voices of a
People's History of the United States*.
(NY: Seven Stories
Press, 2004), p. 23].
And even
if we accept the present political structure, how can we
reconcile this system of 'winner take all' with any idea
of democracy? Even in the parliaments of Europe, in
England, or France, or Germany, minority parties receive
representation in proportion to their voting strength.
Here, 51% of the votes means 100% of the power. The 49%?
Nothing.
We don't
really believe in democracy in America, nor have we ever
done so. America stands for domination. Period.
It is
domination that is being exported to the Middle East,
just as it was exported 100 years ago to Indian Country;
to Oklahoma, and to Mexican territories. 'Democracy' was
a bad word then; it's a bad word now, used only as a
mask for something else.
How
else, in the name of democracy, could we be so
dominated, so controlled, so acquiescent? How else could
we be so powerless, in the face of ever-growing
repression?
|
