About that Democracy thing.

[live2011]

Classical Athens is usually considered “The Cradle of Democracy” but what kind of democracy was it? 20% of the population of Athens were “free citizens” able to vote; 80% of the population of Athens were the slaves and servants of the 20%.
IMO, True Democracy is a 3-legged stool with the 3 legs being Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity (goodwill toward each other or “solidarity”). If any of the legs is missing (or too short), the stool will fall over.

[Newest Reality]

1. Good Point...

Yet, Athens did inspire somewhat of a shift from the Feudal Serfdom and Patriarchal Monarchy.

There's that 80/20 rule that seems to apply everywhere. I think that is telling. Now, is it about the way we are or the way we see it, though? It seems that the nature of that inequity is worthy of more investigation since it is so prevalent in human systems. Is it a rule or a tendency of an imposition?

There are some who say that, if you are living on subsistence wages, (which is certainly the growing trend now) than you are basically a wage slave or a servant to profit holders, the difference being that it is up to you to take care of your own lodging, clothing and food costs on that low wage and the Master, so to speak, is relieved of that requirement. So, the condition of the "slaves" here is a factor, and the comparison is, by no means, a diminution of the kind of conditions that slavery created here.

If there is no surplus income for discretionary spending and a decent buffer of net worth viable in order to deal with a crisis or acquire assets, then the potential cruelty of the Master of old is replaced by living on the brink with the stress and insecurity of paycheck-to-paycheck and impending homelessness. This kind of life also places so much demand on the workers that it can squelch or prevent resistance due to lack of time, energy, even food. That's was the intent, in my opinion, of the Reagan Voodoo Era and this is not the culmination of a winner-take-all effort to create it. With all this wealth, the odds of living a precarious existence are increasing and that's the American Nightmare.

This places a lot more power in the hands of those who profit from the surplus of labor and automation and hold ownership of it. That leans toward oligarchy and that is not compatible with democracy and it will continue to degrade it if it continues unchecked until democracy is merely an empty word meant to placate the masses or it merely collapses into the dust of history in the wake of what will be an iron-clad dystopia for most of us.