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Our democracy? It is NOT, and we elect the predators who see us as their prey.
Prey? Yes.
Predators? Get elected to a legislative body and get offers of money and more.
The USA has never been a democracy.
If your defense is that it is a representative democracy, then ask who legislators represent.
It is more than an oligarchy; it’s an oligarchy with opportunities for plutocrats and kleptocrats.
It will remain that until the nation and every state, territory and overseas colony has the direct initiative and referendum.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Adam on -
This is what it devolves into regardless of how it's done. The founders saw this and did their best to put as many anti-corruption safeguards into place. Our government has been working to dismantle those safeguards.
As a matter of fact, many pride themselves on being a capitalist society. If all the lobbyists buy the votes and do the hiring, then you could argue that the people with government power do the most hiring.
America is nothing like what we are taught it is
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Permalink Reply by Ruth Anthony-Gardner on
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I think the only way citizens will ever control government is through transparency, in other words two way communication whereby the more power and money an individual or corporation has the less right they have to public secrecy.
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Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on
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Try voting, Ruth. Votes ALWAYS beat transparency.
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Permalink Reply by Grinning Cat on -
Transparency is a precondition to an informed vote.
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Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on
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Frederick Douglass: power concedes nothing without a struggle.
Informed voting is a precondition to transparency. Better-informed voting follows.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Penn on
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Term limits is a viable option in my opinion. No office should be for life. SCOTUS should never be a lifetime appointment. We should vote for offices to have term limits OR to come and go as our presidents come and go. If one POTUS likes a certain person in an office they may keep him if they will. Otherwise, new people will be chosen for the job.
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Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on
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Michael, suppose you run for an elective office. Suppose also that you win election to it.
if in that office you can do something for people, they might offer you something.
Will you accept their offer and do as they want?
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Tom, this is but another reason that we need term limits.
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Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on
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Michael, California’s term-limited legislature with a Democratic majority started passing bills that favored their major donors by introducing, debating, and passing them in early evening sessions that lasted about two hours. WHEN NO NEWS MEDIA PEOPLE WERE PRESENT.
The voters stopped that abuse with another direct initiative that requires a pending bill to be published on the Internet for three days before the legislature’s final vote to pass or fail the bill.
Politicians are predators.
The story of why California’s voters, thirty years ago with a direct initiative, put term limits on the legislature requires an explanation longer than that.
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Permalink Reply by Chuck Roast on
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Theoretically we are a republic governed democratically by the consent of the people. We have that in a small degree on some levels such as local government. State and federal government are generally comprised of the errand boys of corporate gangsters.
I think we've gone from a oligarchy to a kleptocracy.
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Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on
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Chuck, has any government anywhere ever been ruled by all of its people? If you haven’t already done so, check out the “iron law of oligarchy” in Wikipedia.
Kleptos? I think it reasonable to conclude that all governments everywhere have some thieves doing what thieves do.
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Permalink Reply by Wayne Davison on
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Term limits, voting, all these great ideas to fix democracy. All great ideas. Here's the issue. In my opinion democracy is this big fat and long steam train riding on the tracks of capitalism. The conductor is the elected government. The economy is the coal being shoveled Into the boilers by the middle class. The water is the oil and pharma and insurance companies. First 80 train cars are where the middle class sleep. Next 18 are the poor and disabled. The 99th has the banks, and the caboose is full of the Rich. If the tracks break, cars 99 and 100 can disconnect and point and laugh as we crumble. If the coal runs low the middle class can't work and car 99 bails us out but all ticket prices go up. If the water runs out same result. All the while car 100 is safe and can disconnect at any time and be free of the issues relatively unharmed. The conductor can interviene on any of these issues, but car 99 and 100 make damn sure that they stay in the back incase bad things happen by making sure the conductor has full pockets and the tracks are maintained to their liking. We need to disconnect car 1 from the engine and scare the shit out of everyone. The issue there is that everyone from car 1 to 98 will suffer greatly while car 99 and 100 hold hands, throw parties, and laugh waiting for the front cars to give up and start shoveling again. The country is a disaster, the economy is delicate, the banks are too big, the rich have too much money, the politicians are dirty and weak. We are setting our selves up for a nasty regime change if we dont fix this. I was watching a Netflix doc on trains so sorry. My two cents. But I am a physicist at heart and a computer scientist by trade so take this with a grain of salt.
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