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POLICY & POLITICS
Do we really have a representative democracy?
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andoscia
Uploaded on 05/26/2008

I've always been a strong supporter of Mr. Kucinich and I was glad to see him on this forum.  The two party system is nothing more than pseudo-reality television.  It has no greater value than does the television show Survivor or Big Brother.  Yes, we could say that these television shows have a certailn, voyeuristic entertainment value, but for making judgments regarding who should being the most powerful person on Earth, I would rather that not be relegated to infotainment. 

The the Republicrat party feeding from the corporate trough we really can't say that we have a democracy. What we have is something new.  A corporatocracy.  And there's no evidence that anyone in the Democratic or Republican parties is going to challeng that orthodoxy.  

So we need a third party...and a fourth party...and a fifth party.  We need an expanded debate in how to run our country.  We need to re-think the very social structures that brought us to this level of political stagnation.  We need a radical realignment of American Democracy. 

 As it stands, neither the Democratic nor Republican parties represent us, the common men and women, or our children.  Instead, they represent elite interests. Well, if our elected representatives do not represent us, then can we say that we have a representative democracy? Of course not.  

 And what does it take to create a representative democracy?  Political action from the bottom. Democracy is never a top down ideology.  Democracy is the result of anger and agitation from the common man, shaking their fists and demanding social justice.  

 It's time to start shaking our fists in the face of power rather than waste our time who's going to win the "reality" television game known as American Election Year. 

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Re: Do we really have a representative democracy?

right. in fact, parties are the death of democracy, just as cartels attempt to control 'free' markets.

america is not a democracy, and representative democracy is newspeak. a better label would be elective oligarchy.

america needs citizen initiative at the federal level, similar to that used in california and a few other states. with this tool, the electorate can bring the politicians under control. getting citizen initiative is the first necessary step, and it will be difficult. mike gravel, with his 'initiative for democracy' site seems to be on the right track. he also seems to be largely ignored, not only by the cow-people, but also by the dis-satisfied would-be activists. the constitution can be changed, has been changed, needs to change, but almost no one else talks about changing it.

so i conclude that one of the pre-conditions of productive action is missing: american culture has become 'traditional', anti-intellectual, and simply can not change itself. 

change will happen, in response to the stresses in society, but it will be passive, even if violent. fascism is a better bet than democracy.

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