General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhat really is the DU community's attitude towards democracy?
Browsing threads since the election, I see many folks here about to pop a mental cork because of the results. You are upset! I am with you; I am also upset. But ALL I see in the way of solutions is politics as usual here. My fellow citizens, our nation has endured a silent coup by corporate power. I know you are aware of this; I have seen you write about it. Politics as usual is not possible anymore. Any small level of democracy for us has been removed. We are officially now powerless! I am not talking about our elected representatives since they have done nothing but failed us since the Reagan Revolution. Democratic politicians have lost their desire to fight the Imperial Right Wing, apparently because they believe the distorted mass news media reports about our opinions shifting to the right. Let me remind you of the extremely profound statements about the military industrial complex President Eisenhower made in his final address as he left office.
I am sure you know this! But it is worth listening to again.
We truly have had a silent coup skilfully executed against us over many careful decades. What are our options after this overwhelming coup? After Eisenhower, the new President John F. Kennedy took Ike's message seriously. A couple of the things JFK did to fight against this corporate power grab were restarting the printing of money by the U.S. Treasury and promising to disperse the CIA. President Kennedy didn't make it through his first term. Read more in the book “JFK and The Unspeakable” by James W. Douglas.
What happened to President Kennedy shook Americans up as did 9/11/2001 many years later, but not enough to stop the military-industrial complex from its advance against us.
Will we, can we finally stand up to this attack? We can! We can do it by executing our Constitutionally guaranteed democratic rights as specified in our Bill of Rights. We can enact the National Initiative for Democracy!
Stop listening to Imperial propaganda against empowering the people through democracy. By now we should all know its just negative propaganda. Freedom requires empowering the people to determine their form of government.
The National Initiative for Democracy is a much more robust piece of legislation than the initiative laws we have in half of our states. It handles big problems right off the bat like campaign finance reform; corporate money is banned. What it does not do is replace our current government structure. What it does do is empower the people to make law in parallel with Congress creating essentially a forth branch of government. But it also does not allow sudden flurries of initiatives; it is well controlled.
I know, I know, the people are not ready for democracy. But they can be, and quickly. It's a matter of education. If we start voting on and supporting this legislation, The Democracy Foundation can gradually gain the funds needed for media educational information. Once we kick the ball down the hill, it will snowball.
As written by Something Fishy, most Americans actually agree on the big issues!
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
unrepentant progress
(611 posts)Democracy's a cute idea. We should try it sometime.
More seriously, I'm not sure democracy works for anything larger than a small village, and as someone who grew up in a small village, I'm not even sure that it works there. Which is probably why I'm sympathetic to anarchy, particularly anarcho-syndicalism.
dfgrbac
(418 posts)Can you explain more about why you feel this way? I want to understand.
alarimer
(16,245 posts)It is the money. The Koch Brothers and ALEC have bought the government. Republicans (and some Dems, probably) are shameless about taking this cash and doing their bidding. That is not my definition of democracy. Until we have public campaign financing, I think this will never be a true democracy.
dfgrbac
(418 posts)I am proposing an empowerment of the people that has been well designed by experts. Once enacted, we will be able to shape "democracy" however we want!
Democracy is not something to be afraid of; the current government is!
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)yep.
And the media brainwashing.
This is not democracy.
We are just going to leave this mess the way it is?
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)I come from NC. You have to allow for my skepticism about anything working:
http://www.brennancenter.org/blog/media-wrap-how-voters-fared-new-restrictions
----------
Your org sounds worthwhile--how long has it been in existence?
The list of endorsers of the Citizens Initiative project is interesting:
http://www.ncid.us/endorsements
---------
Might be a hard sell here. People are cynical. But keep trying. Bring news of successes.
dfgrbac
(418 posts)Its founder, former U.S. Senator Mike Gravel ran for President as a Democrat in 2008 to try to get attention for the initiative! Unfortunately, the media and the party leaders did not give him much time to talk. Of course, the Empire didn't want citizens to pay him any mind.
dfgrbac
(418 posts)I would not have expected that in Democratic Underground, there is such little respect for democracy! Wow!
The Empire truly has won us over with its propaganda!
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)Having been in at the grassroots and for a brief time a leader in several short term movements, and a many hour volunteer in a party office, and around more than a few elected politicians, I have a fairly unique take on what playing a part in democracy entails.
You have to be willing to be beat down and rise again. You have to take the losses as an education. Learn from each mistake. Make sure of what it is you are asking people to do, and take all the help you can get.
It means hours at meetings. It means facing opponents with respect - when they deserve it - and smashing them when you can.
It means helping leaders lead, and doing grunt work, and kissing some ass. You must overlook the faults and mistakes of others on your team and work to get them to get with the program.
My view on what to do tomorrow, were I still active, would be to find new local party leadership material and work with them to build an organization that is inclusive and makes good use - real good use - of volunteers time.
dfgrbac
(418 posts)If only everyone could be so involved.
But you are still talking about "politics as usual". This has been shown to not work on the grand scale (big national issues), and usually not on local issues either. What you describe has been the way citizens have always been told to take part in American politics. But those methods have failed us big time as indicated by where we are. And this is not government by the people.
For the "majority" of us to get the government we want and need takes majority rule. The only way for that to happen is to put the big issues on the ballot and let us vote them into law. Only then can the powerful elite be prevented from making laws against the best interests of the American people.
Initiatives local, state, and national will also require "...hours at meetings. It means facing opponents with respect - when they deserve it - and smashing them when you can." Indeed, that's what democracy takes! But with open public debates as defined in the National Initiative for Democracy, the results will be on the next ballot to be voted into law - not a petition to legislators who will then ignore the idea. Ballot initiatives, referendums, and recalls cannot be ignored once voted upon by everyone. Now that is democracy!
It will take 'politics as usual' to get initiatives put up for a vote.
Then again to see that the votes are not ignored.
It takes letters and comments to the powers that be to make the press follow the stories and make fair reports and get reps to act.
What I have done is, like I said, unique. If there were just 10% of the citizens to do as much or be so involved, we'd be living in a different political atmosphere. Alas, it is not so, and I've retired from the fray.
For those beginning to work for change, my advice would be to get involved at the local level by occupying space at all the public meetings.
I do believe as you do that increased chances to vote for matters would make for a better democracy and a more perfect union.
The cure for an ill democracy? More democracy.
SomethingFishy
(4,876 posts)Welcome to DU!
Can't agree with you more... 
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)If the results are bad (2014) then we don't live in a democracy after all, more like a corporate-controlled oligarchy where people are helpless to make up their own minds who to vote for in the face of a few TV ads.
