Put Away the Fireworks... You Don’t Live in a Democracy Anymore

I am deeply grateful to my husband for this one. This is an exceptional, a truly exceptional article. This larger picture illuminates where we are, which I have certainly found is essential to deeper understanding of both the urgent issues of our time and the potential solutions. It also reminds me of this quote by Abraham Lincoln: "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and loose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." That America has become an Oligarchy - and is far from being a democracy - is also reaching its way into the conscious awareness of more and more people. Which is pushing us deeper into the Great Awakening that is also emerging. Another world is possible! Bless us all ~ Molly

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Published on Monday, July 04, 2016 by Common Dreams

by

John Atcheson

 

We can still celebrate a day off and enjoy our holiday, but is it any longer possible to deny just how much the democracy has been eroded by the powerful interests of corporate power and elite interests? (Photo: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain)

Within the last 30 years, while we’ve chased bogeymen overseas and here at home, our Democracy has fallen. We have been taken over; defeated; our voices neutered; our freedoms trampled; our democracy vanquished.

No invading force accomplished this; no jackboots echoed across our republic; no alien flag was raised above our lands. Not a single shot was fired by our vaunted military to halt this takeover. No, this was a quiet coup, accomplished from within, and conducted in stealth. 

In the cult film classic, The Usual Suspects, Roger "Verbal" Kint says, “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.” Just so, has the Oligarchy taken over the US.

Many of us continue with the delusion that we are free. We celebrate Independence Day. We vote. We express ourselves openly. We are not jailed for our opinions, at least not usually. We live where we want. We pursue the work we choose. We get our news from a “free” press. We engage in the pursuit of happiness. 

And while all this seems true, we are not free.  Our votes carry no weight. Our news is a hollow monoculture in which six corporations own 90% of the outlets with most of the rest controlled by elitists who can no longer relate to the average person; in which infotainment has replaced information; in which a modern day version of bread and circuses keeps us distracted from the increasingly grim reality we are everyday immersed in. The jobs open to us are becoming increasingly exploitative. And the pursuit of happiness is marred by a lack of choice, increasingly desperate economic straights for the majority of us, and a feeling of impotence as we watch the American dream shrink before our eyes. 

Consider:

• When 91% wanted to strengthen rules on clean air and protection of drinking water, Congress – led by the Republican majority – proposed weakening them;
• When 90% wanted to protect public lands and parks; the Republicans proposed putting them on sale or otherwise privatizing them;
• When 74% of Americans favored ending subsidies to big oil, Congress retained most of them;
• At a time when the majority of citizens favored allowing tax cuts for those earning over $250,000 to expire, the best Congress could do was to compromise on $400,000;
• When 70% of Americans said climate change should be a high priority issue, Congress took no action;
• Some 80% of Americans favor shoring up Social Security even if it means higher taxes and a similar number support retaining Medicare as is, but the Obama administration has twice offered cuts to both programs as part of a “grand bargain” and Republican budgets routinely seek to privatize them; 
• Or take this gem … more than 80% of Americans want to clamp down on Wall Street but the best we could get was weak-sister legislation that doesn’t even address too-big-to-fail or restore a Glass Steagall provision limiting the risks these big banks can take with your money. And even this slap-on-the-wrist legislation is being completely eviscerated as it is translated into regulations.
• After Orlando, 92% of the people  supported a bill expanding background checks to online purchases of guns, but Congress has been unable to pass it;
• And when 85% of citizens supported a bill barring people on the terrorist watch list from buying guns, Congress couldn’t pass the it;

Dwell on these last two bits of political pornography for a moment: Congress denied the vast majority of the people’s perfectly reasonable – in fact, bare minimal – desire to keep assault rifles and weapons out of the hands of potential mass murders because a few special interests opposed it.

But it’s not simply a list of specific issues where the Oligarchy defeats the will of the people.  Their victory has been complete.

Please continue this article here: http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/07/04/put-away-fireworks-you-dont-live-democracy-anymore