WSWS: The crisis of American democracy: its social and political roots

[Karmadillo]

The article starts with the right wing's veto of the recent Reagan movie and moves on to other signs of decay. Nothing most of us haven't read before, but it's a nice summary of our current deteriorating situation. Strange how those Socialists sometimes make a lot more sense than more respected media voices.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/nov2003/cbs-n14.shtml

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The WSWS and the SEP drew the fundamental conclusion that there exists within the American ruling elite no significant constituency for the defense of democratic rights. This conclusion has been amply confirmed by the events of the past three years.

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The widening chasm between the financial oligarchy and the masses of working people has been accompanied by other, related processes that undermine the foundations of democracy. The traditional social base for parliamentary democracy is the middle-class layers that serve as a buffer between the two main contending classes—the capitalist elite and the working class. But the vast changes in economic life linked to the globalization of production and the rise of giant transnational corporations have dissipated middle-class America and sharply reduced its social and political weight.

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The agenda of this increasingly dominant element within the ruling elite is the removal of all legal, political and moral restraints on the accumulation of corporate profit and personal wealth—whether in the form of environmental regulations, health and safety codes, anti-trust laws, union rights, minimum wage standards, or limitations on the work day and child labor. These forces demand a vast retrogression in the social conditions and democratic rights of the working class—a return to the policies of laissez-faire, but on a more brutal scale than that which prevailed even in the heyday of the robber barons.

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This rise of a criminal element finds its consummate political expression in the Bush administration, where naked greed commingles with brutality and contempt for the democratic rights of the people. It is a government of, by and for the American oligarchy.

more...

[Karmadillo]

1. Kick.

[RichM]

2. Not only do they make more sense than "respected media voices" --

they also make a lot more sense than Democrats, & than any of the party loyalists at DU. I know by now that it's a lost cause to try to get anyone at DU to see the light, but this type of article is a perfect example of what DU so sorely lacks. It presents a unified basis for understanding the political developments of the last few years, in terms of basic social forces -- starting with the fundamental matter of wealth distribution.

Anyone who understood this analysis would easily see that Democrats are a major part of the problem. DU has deteriorated into little more than a daily slugfest of candidate threads, where the 2 main factions scream "Tastes Great!" and "Less Filling!" at each other. This fantastically childish behavior has no connection whatever with the real disease faced by our society. Neither of the leading Democratic candidates - Clark & Dean - are in any way attuned to the social roots of today's crisis. They are both "business as usual" candidates who won't rock the boat. They won't even mention the aspects of American society's structure (like the word "oligarchy") that have brought us to where we stand today.

It is altogether predictable that a thread like this would receive no attention whatever, while all the little ostrich-Democrats jump around and frolic with threads like "Joe Blow says Clark is groovy!" or "Dean moving up in latest poll!" Democrats want to believe that all our society needs is to take an aspirin. I'm quite sure that the eventual reward for this misguidedness will match its foolishness & naïveté.

[mmonk]

4. Russia today is more of an oligarchy than us,

but we have been hijacked (or under occupation of a growing dictatorship funded and produced by multi-nationals and ideological think tanks). Its a little different but not comfortable.

[RichM]

5. OK, I agree -- Russia is more of an oligarchy than us.

But this doesn't make it any less urgent to speak about our oligarchy. If the high-visibility Democrats make pretend that the American Oligarchy doesn't exist; if they continue with the pretense that "we have a democracy," the public is prevented from grasping what has happened.

As the article points out -- what we have today in the US is an inequality of wealth & power that's simply no longer compatible with real democracy.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

8. When CEOs are giving you money, it's not polite to bash their companies

The party system is two coalitions of wealthy investors hirings actors to compete on TV shows.

[RichM]

3. Just for the heck of it...

:kick: to see if there are any alert cerebra on this site, that are still capable of rising up out of the kiddies' sandbox of Dean & Clark insult fests...

[Steven_S]

6. Outstanding analysis, as usual..

I can't think of a single thing -- nothing -- that this regime has done that has helped the working class; or democracy for that matter.

Maybe I'll come back and edit if I think of something.

Don't hold your breath.

[dusty64]

7. Kick.

:kick:

[Aidoneus]

9. let me help, this should get this piece some attention

NADER DEAN KERRY CLARK CLINTON'S COCK "ST.RALPH" GREENS NADER DEAN CLARK NADER FLORIDA GREEN NADER A.N.S.W.E.R. NADER GREEN DEAN CLARK KERRY ABORTION SOCIALISM FREE-MARKET NADER GREEN DEAN CLARK "ST.RALPH"

There, that should set off enough radars and get this the attention it deserves.

:kick:

[RichM]

10. Hillary. Hillary, anyone? Rush. Tweety. PNAC. BFEE. Hillary.

I heard that Hillary and Nader are conspiring against Dean.

Discuss.