For the first time in my life, I fear for my country. I am not sure that American democracy will survive. Oh, I think the form will survive, elections, a Congress, but the substance of fair elections, every citizen with the right to vote, and encouraged to do so, will be gone. America will be rigged as surely as Putin has rigged Russia, as surely as any South American dictatorship, the Soviet Union under Stalin, or Germany under Hitler. Democracies are not easy to maintain. The fact that the U.S. has done it for more than two centuries is historically amazing. And I am not alone in this thinking. One hundred of the leading scholars of American democracy, driven by this concern, issued the following statement on the first of June 2021:
“We, the undersigned, are scholars of democracy who have watched the recent deterioration of U.S. elections and liberal democracy with growing alarm. Specifically, we have watched with deep concern as Republican-led state legislatures across the country have in recent months proposed or implemented what we consider […]
The only absolute in life is CHANGE.
With every action the extremists take, the energy of the opposition is gathering, gaining in numbers, becoming more focused and dedicated.. I’ve never seen so many everyday heroes stepping up, engaging for the first time.
ETC. For 200 years or more, the press has followed the premise ‘if it bleeds, it leads (ledes). They are profit driven or they wouldn’t be in business. Some years ago, a small column in the NYT editorial page revealed that the articles that were the most shared were the ones with ‘good’ news. Ok, so humans get a ‘thrill’ out of the scary stuff.. but connectedness (sharing) remains the bedrock atavistic instinct of the HUMAN WEB of existence.
We need more people like Bernie Sanders in office so we can become more of a Social Democracy. That is the only thing that will hold us together. Everyone should look on YouTube for Professor Wolff’s descriptions of Capitalism and Socialism. There are many definitions of these terms, and the best ones are normally overlooked.
P.S.: Actually we have already lost our Democracy; we are an Oligarchy with the rich in charge of everything that happens in our national government. One of the first things the “REAL” Democrats should do is get rid of Citizens United in order to give everyone the same chance to make their vote count. Right now, poor people’s votes do not matter much, and they cannot afford to spend money to support candidates who might do something to give us a more Social Democracy.
Totally agreed. Whether Dem or Republican most can’t get to the top levels of our “democracy” without big money which comes with a price. Then once there at the top many opportunities present to enhance one’s wealth. Like all human enterprises democracy is an evolving process or so we hope history would not indicate a positive outcome.