What America Needs Is More Democracy

Most everyone agrees; America is broken. Our government is dysfunctional. Our future looks uncertain. And worse, our long-term future looks bleak.

Why? At least in part because our “leaders” keep making bad decisions. And they keep making those bad decisions because that's what keeps getting them money to get re-elected... at least until our economy collapses... even worse than it did in 2008.

Casino Jack and the United States of Money Trailer

Inside Job Trailer

Noam Chomsky Democracy Uprising

What we have in America only looks like democracy.

What we have in America is socialism for the highest bidder.

What we have in America does not look at all like equality.

What we have in America is a privileged class running “our” government for their own selfish benefit – a plutocracy.

And what does that mean for the rest of us?

Servitude.

That's right. You are like a slave. You are like a slave who votes for “leaders” who almost always decide against you. Because your vote never counts as much as the privileged class payoffs. Things have been somewhat this way for a long time. But now, we have a free-for-all race to the bottom. This has become totally unsustainable.

Common sense no longer matters.

This is a sign.

Disregard for common sense is a sign that our system is falling apart – failing. Even the privileged class should be afraid. This cannot last. And it won't last for much longer.

What we need is an infusion of sanity.

What we need is a way to keep our “leaders” from making decisions that don't make sense.

What we need is to think outside of the box.

But thinking outside of the box is the last thing the privileged class wants us to do. Limiting our thinking is how they keep us in line.

The ultimate point of controlling mass media is to distract us. The mass media only gives you the alternatives they want you to consider. We have been misdirected into believing that the system we have is the ultimate system of democracy. It is not.

Consider this: When was the last time Americans voted on a national issue?

Never.

That's not really democracy.

That's representative democracy.

And it's only pretend democracy when our “representatives” don't really represent us.

America's government has devolved into a culture of compulsory corruption – financed by required bribes (campaign contributions etc.).

Free market politics is payola politics.

Free market politics is legalized corruption.

Free market politics is multi-national corporate control.

And after thirty years of gutting of U.S. manufacturing and suppressing of Americans' wages, there is overwhelming evidence to prove that multi-national corporations don't really care about America.

So, what do we do about it?

I would suggest the opposite of the “Supreme” Court Citizens United decision.

We need less, much less multi-national corporate control.

In fact;

Americans should be directly determining our long-term policies.

There is no reason, with the technology we have today, for not having an election every year – on a dozen or so of the issues. We should be voting for (or against) particular issues – not some candidate who promises to address your issue – and then later acts like you don't exist.

Representative democracy has failed us. Our proxies can too easily be mislead, corrupted, and/or intimidated. Our politicians have failed us. The flaw is systemic. But it doesn't have to be this way.

There is no reason we should have to rely on politicians and bureaucrats to make our most important decisions for us.

What America needs is more democracy.

but what America has been getting is less and less democracy. We've ended up with more and more authoritarianism from the very people who have promised us smaller government. And worse, they keep making poor decisions that have led us closer and closer to total economic collapse.

What we need are limits to bad government.

What we need are guidelines, procedures, decision trees, or at least some kind of limitations on politicians that keep them from making bad decisions. And most importantly, we the people need to set policy. Our “leaders” should only have the power to implement our democratically issued orders. That's what elections were supposed to do. That's what direct democracy can do.

And when certain things happen, with obvious bad consequences; the right to decide on the issue should be out of politicians' hands.

Of course, don't ever expect any politician or bureaucrat to give up their power for us - no matter who we vote for. They have no intention – and never will – of sharing our power with us. We will have to take it.

The process of getting the power we should already have will likely look a lot like Egypt did. Yes it will take us taking to the streets. The protests in Wisconsin and Egypt should only be a beginning.

I don't wish to fight America.

I intend to make America better.

What America (and all of the world's governments) need more of is:

1. Direct Democracy

2. Political Decision Limits

3. Automatic Shutdowns of Illegitimate Programs

(I will give examples on my next post.)