The Fatal Flaw With Democracy

[SHRED]

Of all the depressing things to take away from last night's elections – and believe me, there are many – the most depressing is probably the fact that we have outsourced our political process to factions.

Actual candidates and actual campaigns no longer run the show; billionaires and dark money do.

In many of the closest congressional races across the country, outside groups – groups like Super PACs that aren't officially connected to campaigns – actually outspent regular candidate campaigns.

In North Carolina, for example, where Republican Thom Thillis beat out Democrat Kay Hagan in the most expensive senate race ever, outside groups spent $88 million while the Thillis and Hagan campaigns together only spent around $33 million.

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/27271-the-fatal-flaw-with-democracy

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Thom is spot on here.


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[swilton]

1. April 2014

This story on DU already supported the argument made in this article - that Princeton scholars had already concluded that the US was no longer a democracy but an oligarchy

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024839272

[TomCADem]

2. Citizens United Will Be The Dred Scott Decision of Our Age

Of course, the worst decision the Supreme Court ever made was Dred Scott. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney wrote:

Blacks were “an inferior order and altogether unfit to associate with the white race,” Taney wrote. “They had no rights that the white man was bound to respect.” Moreover: “The Negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his own benefit.” They were not citizens and could not claim the “rights and privileges” of citizenship even if their masters took them to free states.

While it could be argued that many on the right have extended Dred Scott's idea of enslavement for one's own benefit to modern day cuts in the minimum wage, pensions, public education and healthcare, I think we may look back and recognize the Citizens United decision as the Dred Scott decision of our age. By accepting the principle that money is speech, the Court ensured that only the rich would be able to speak loud enough to be heard.

[SHRED]

3. Well said

[JayhawkSD]

4. I think Thom missed the point of what he himself said.

"...we have outsourced our political process to factions."

We have done it. Not some outside disembodied force, not the politicians, we have outsourced...

[fasttense]

5. Outsourced is a word developed by Capitalists

to describe the process of turning a once not-for-profit organization into a money hungry, corrupt profit center. It usually involves government functions being raided by a handful of uber rich.

So, it seems to me it's NOT Democracy's flaw but Capitalism's flaw.

In a capitalist economy everything is up for sale.