Bereft of Democracy

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http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/01/16-1


"'Democracy' as no more than a political system is rote and mechanistic, consisting of elections, term limits, checks and balances. It’s an impediment to power, easily gamed, a nuisance to be worked around rather than a profound set of values at our social core." (File)

(Chris) Christie is the caricature of a Third World despot,” writes Chris Hedges of the reeling New Jersey governor. “He has a vicious temper, a propensity to bully and belittle those weaker than himself, an insatiable thirst for revenge against real or perceived enemies, and little respect for the law and, as recent events have made clear, for the truth.”

And he still might wind up becoming our next president.

This is our kind of guy — media spectacle, bully, errand boy for the moneyed interests. His presidential aspirations may not survive “bridge-gate,” but in his national prominence he sure defines the abject state of American democracy. We give power to would-be despots, “caricatures” only in the sense that they lack life-and-death control over their subjects and are forced to express their wrath through lane closures and the infliction of mere inconvenience on their political foes.

How come our system rewards rather than weeds out ruthless jerks with huge egos and superficial values? Indeed, how come politics and “values” seem to be as self-repellant as oil and water? How come linking them in a sentence is mainly a good way to make cynics snort?

“It’s because these days Americans have as much familiarity with democracy as they do with homesteading on the frontier,” Arun Gupta wrote last week at Alternet. I think he’s on to something.