Wow.
How will democracy end?
May 13th, 2005 : Filed by ~A!
This is not a piece about Bush. I want to square that away right up front, and this isn’t even meant to be a partisan political piece. This is a question I have a lot of interest in, and I think it behooves us all to answer it, or at least consider the idea that it might be answerable at all.
In my life, I’ve always been someone who saw the glass as half empty, never really been much of a half-full kind of guy when it comes to the bigger picture. When I was younger and started a new relationship, I always wondered how it would end, what would the breakup be like, would she get my favorite T-shirt when she left, all that.
Same thing when I started a new job. How will this one end? When will I find something better and tire of the present situation, or when will they get tired of my obviously charming company and turn me out on the street?
So, when I think about the way things are going in the world, I can’t help but wonder how democratic governments across the planet will end. Try to stay with me, I’m not talking about having elections, I’m talking about the people actually having a say in their governments.
In the US, it ended to thunderous applause. When it ended is an issue, of course. Some would say in the early twentieth century, when the banks took over the fed. Some would say it was the Wal-Mart era that killed democracy, when the corporations became too powerful to be stopped, and stopped allowing the people to have a voice, because they own our politicians.
Of course, someone like me says it ended the day two big-ass planes slammed into the twin towers and killed thousands of our brothers and sisters. It ended when the government took the power to arrest and detain citizens of this country without a trial or due process. It ended when we lost our ability to hold free elections in any kind of coherent manner.
And the whole time, we hear a minority screaming. But we heard the majority reacting with laughter and standing ovations, even when they knew something was amiss. So caught up in the near-religious fervor created by fear, the American people applauded their way into dictatorship.
Continues....
http://watchingthewatchers.org/index.php?p=490
May 13th, 2005 : Filed by ~A!
This is not a piece about Bush. I want to square that away right up front, and this isn’t even meant to be a partisan political piece. This is a question I have a lot of interest in, and I think it behooves us all to answer it, or at least consider the idea that it might be answerable at all.
In my life, I’ve always been someone who saw the glass as half empty, never really been much of a half-full kind of guy when it comes to the bigger picture. When I was younger and started a new relationship, I always wondered how it would end, what would the breakup be like, would she get my favorite T-shirt when she left, all that.
Same thing when I started a new job. How will this one end? When will I find something better and tire of the present situation, or when will they get tired of my obviously charming company and turn me out on the street?
So, when I think about the way things are going in the world, I can’t help but wonder how democratic governments across the planet will end. Try to stay with me, I’m not talking about having elections, I’m talking about the people actually having a say in their governments.
In the US, it ended to thunderous applause. When it ended is an issue, of course. Some would say in the early twentieth century, when the banks took over the fed. Some would say it was the Wal-Mart era that killed democracy, when the corporations became too powerful to be stopped, and stopped allowing the people to have a voice, because they own our politicians.
Of course, someone like me says it ended the day two big-ass planes slammed into the twin towers and killed thousands of our brothers and sisters. It ended when the government took the power to arrest and detain citizens of this country without a trial or due process. It ended when we lost our ability to hold free elections in any kind of coherent manner.
And the whole time, we hear a minority screaming. But we heard the majority reacting with laughter and standing ovations, even when they knew something was amiss. So caught up in the near-religious fervor created by fear, the American people applauded their way into dictatorship.
Continues....
http://watchingthewatchers.org/index.php?p=490
posted by Christy at 11:55 PM
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