Cornel West & company explain why they are socialists..

[limpyhobbler]

47. Some point-people can be designated and authorized to make decisions,

especially in the case of emergencies. Start with the principle of democracy, and give individuals authority only when there is some valid justification. And those individuals should then be held accountable for their decisions.

Consider a government run school. You've got administrators there. But they are accountable to a school board, who are elected by the people of the town. The administrators are empowered to make some decisions within limits. But they are accountable to a democracy. As long as the elections themselves can be trusted, that's democratic control. The people who work there should also have influence over decisions to the extent that decisions will affect them. Workers typical exert that influence via labor unions.

A similar principle of accountability via government could apply in the case of larger state run industries like the UK National Health Service, or any government operated public utility. Administrators are authorized to make decisions within limits, and are held accountable by whichever means is in place to hold government accountable. I think elections are a fine way to do that.

In the case of non-governmental companies there are various ideas for workplace democracy. My personal opinion is that it will take quite a bit of experimentation to find out what works best, and there may not be a single solution that works in all cases. I think many of us like the idea of worker owned and managed corporations or co-operatives. And those co-operatives may also delegate limited decision-making authority to designated people.

Democracy doesn't require people have to vote or reach consensus on everything under the sun. It's fine to give people limited authority to make decisions on behalf of a company. But there does need to be a valid justification for giving people authority. And then authority should be held accountable and subject to recall.

YMMV.