H.L. Mencken said the typical American voter was a boob, and the system was booboisie.
Improvement in the lot of the downtrodden is not obtained by a democratic
process.
It has to be fought for against the establishment.
.
Democracy is a function of capitalism:
In order to understand the submission “ Democracy is a Function of
Capitalism” one has to delve deep into social, economic, and political
evolution of human race and subject it to critical analysis.
Let us start with a few broad definitions.
Capitalism- is an economic system in which means of production are
controlled and in a large measure, owned by a numerically small group of
people- the capitalist class. They dominate the government by
maintaining a dominant-symbiotic relationship with mainstream political
parties, media and
academia.
Socialism- is an economic system
in which an ideology-driven party controls the means of production,
state, media, labor unions, academia and professions etc. The
party/state endeavors to provide for the basic needs of the public.
Fascism is an economic system in which an ideology-driven party
exercises the same degree of control over levers of authority as the
socialists do, but makes little effort to provide for the public.
Sub-types of Fascism are:
1). Theocracy in which clergy/Mullahs are in control, as in Iran
and pay little attention to public welfare.
2). Military dictatorship in which the army functions on behalf of the
cabal of feudal lords, mullahs, bureaucrats and petty bourgeoisie as
they routinely do in Pakistan. Over the course of time they metamorphose
into a service/export substitution/ real state agglomerate and reduce
traditional feudals to an
apparently subsidiary status and try to
sideline the clergy. They are subservient to international capital.
3) Civilian fascists such as Saddam, Batista, Somoza and Papa Doc.
They take advantage of the parlous state of the country and seize all
the levers of power. They can last a long time if they continue to toe
the imperialist line.
Democracy is a system of government in
which people are (supposed) to be governed by and with their consent.
The term, without further qualifications, stands for bourgeoisie
democracy in which multi-party elections are held at fixed or regularly
irregular intervals under adult franchise. Political parties, invariably
beholden to financial interests, present a platform to attract voters.
Liberals throw crumbs at the working class; conservatives do not even do
that.
Under democracy, the working class is kept under control
with the aid of such sedatives as
sports programs, soap operas, and
distracted by issues such as migration, religious conflicts, wars and
ethnic divides. When the working class gets too rebellious, they are
sedated with such measures as social security, health care, free
education and unemployment benefits.
Imperial system: in which
all power is vested in the king who delegates some authority to his
family, friends, and henchmen. The imperial system controls all means of
production. Feudals/ tribal heads are given limited authority in their
area of influence.
Muslim kingdoms and Gulf Emirates are prime examples.
This is not to be confused with the Pseudo- Imperial system in which
the King/Queen and royal family are kept for ceremonial purposes, as in
some European countries, Malaysia and Japan.
Feudal system: in
which an imperial/colonial power left the levers of power in the hands
of feudal landowners, as in
Pakistan. The feudal class was able to
subjugate the royal house as in the UK from sixteenth to nineteenth
centuries.
Rule of the global capital: This is the current
more evolved form of capitalism. In sharp deviation from national
capital, which developed industry in its own domicile, and let some
benefits trickle to its fellow citizens, this “advanced” form moves
industry to where labor is the cheapest. Current choices are China and
to a lesser extent India. Manufactories are being closed in the USA on a
daily basis. The US workers have a choice of taking a drastic cut in
wages or join the ranks of the jobless.
The capitalist class,
squeezes all resources from all economies, reduces the system to ‘a melt
down’ from time to time, and demands that its minions ‘bail’ it out, as
in the recent sub-prime, the 1929, the 1885 and 1860 crises.
India is a special case in study.
It developed a big industrial base
while still under alien rule. Industry financed Indian National
Congress, which won independence and promptly abolished the feudal
system. In the initial years Nehru adopted egalitarian policies. His
successors, from his party and the opposition, gradually reversed
welfare measures.
On the contrary, in the less developed
Pakistan, industrial capitalism never took root. Only service industry,
largely dominated by the feudal class, passes for industrialization. In
fact feudal landowners are not only surviving, indeed they are thriving.
Bhutto, a diabolically shrewd feudal lord, effectively demolished the
nascent and fast emerging capitalist class, in order to reinforce the
supremacy of his class.
Study of Japan and Korea is very
instructive. Under pressure of industrialization and being deficient in
raw materials, they evolved from Imperial/ feudal to
fascist to
pseudo-imperial and democratic system in a short span of time.
Muslims, democracy and finance:
Muslims are under such overwhelming intellectual and cultural
influence of the West that they regard any Western institution,
especially democracy as a highly desirable objective. At the same time
they are under great sway of clerics. In any event, in Islam sovereignty
belongs to Allah. In democracy it resides in the people. Islam should
not permit capitalism, as interest is an integral part of the system,
but clerics look the other way, and governments/ finance men have
developed a cover under which interest is called partnership.
The religion has not ordained any particular system of government, the
only injunction being that the system should abide by God given laws. It
has accepted tribal, hereditary kingship and theocratic states as
Islamic. Though they collaborate with all but
socialist systems, they
are always on a look out for replacing the existing order-examples are
the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Qaida, Jammat e Islami and Taliban.
The survey would not be complete without mention of social benefits
in certain capitalist European countries, Great Britain, France, Germany
and more so Scandinavian countries, like unemployment benefits, health
care, and education. Granted after World War II, which had devastated
the societies and when the governments were apprehensive that communists
would take over, as they nearly did in Italy, and had to be overthrown
in Greece, became a considerable force in France, the benefits were
gradually withdrawn especially in Britain under Thatcher and Blair.
Still democracy is thought of as something desirable.
In the sense of ‘by the people, of the people and for the people’, it
is a fantasy. Left wing and right wing dictatorships
claim to be a
democracy.
Roots of the word go back to 5 BC Athens. Greek
Demos means people and Kratein, to rule, which is related to Keratos
(authority) and came into use to bring more people to defend against
Iranian invasions.
Athens, over the course of time, imposed its
own ‘democratic’ structure on two hundred Greek city states, which
replaced the erstwhile rule by one man, who was called a tyrant, which
at the time meant lord or the chief. He ruled by popular consent and did
not have the evil connotations of the current times.
Under
Athenian democracy, an elected assembly made all the laws, and officials
were appointed through a lottery system. According to Pericles (461-429
BC) the system of paying public servants out of national treasury was
introduced, in order to attract people to seek office (1).
Only
free male citizens, 43,000 in number, were allowed to vote.
There were
about equal number of women, who along with110,000 slaves and 28,000 non
citizens did not have a vote. According to the historian, Thucyidides,
contemporary of Pericles, resident aliens were also excluded (2).
Very soon, though, starting with Pericles, it became a majority party rule.
It did not last long. Spartans destroyed the Athenian Empire at the end
of 5th century BC. Nominal democracy did not re-emerge for 2000 years
(3).
The idea was revived in the 17th century AD Britain as a
highly romanticized version of Greek democracy. Britain was in the grip
of a civil war at the time. It eventually developed into a popular
sovereignty which was adapted later in France and the USA (4).
New England Puritans, who had fled the revolution in Britain in the 17th
century AD, tried the concept in town meetings, which were attended by
the entire male white European population and
served as the legislature
and the executive. It was democracy at the local level. The king of
England appointed governors and judges.
According to James
Madison pro-British citizens had their property annexed by popular vote.
Constitution makers at the 1787 AD convocation wanted to prevent
“tyranny of the majority” (5).
Again according to Madison, the
representatives usually act according to their own, and not the people’s
notion, a concept alien to the concept of democracy.
The point
of difference between a Democracy and a Republic is the delegation of
the government in the latter to a small number of citizens (no 10,
Federalist Papers)… (6).
Let us take a more detailed look at the foremost example of ‘democracy’, the US.
The US constitution offers a Republic, not a democracy. It has produced
vote producing political machines beholden to
vested interests, not the
public.
George Washington appointed Thomas Jefferson,
erstwhile US ambassador to France, the first secretary of state. He
opposed the establishment of a US bank as it would favor money interest.
GW agreed with the treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton’s
vision was that of a mercantile/manufact uring country. Jefferson saw it
as an agrarian society. Opponents of Hamilton mainly the farmers,
gathered behind Jefferson. They called themselves Republicans and
favored the French revolution.
The 19th amendment in the 1930s,
gave the vote to women (7). Briefly, after the civil war,
African-Americans were allowed to vote, but the 1876 deal with the
Southern states, effectively kept them from voting (8).
Less
than 50% vote in the presidential elections year; far less do in the
mid-term and fewer in local elections. Many well-informed citizens do
not
vote, as they see no difference between the democrats and
republicans.
In a democracy, at a minimum, people have to be consulted, in making decisions.
Politicians buy votes through tax-supported programs. During the
crises, the establishment offers welfare. When things settle down,
parties of all hues make concerted effort to nibble at benefits, (post
Johnson in the US and post Labor in Britain-conservativ e Thatcher and
the neo-conservative Blair). Similar steps have been taken in Canada and
European countries.
The UK government, under that supreme
hypocrite Blair, supported and took part in the aggression even though a
majority of the British people opposed it. He got away with it because
the Tory opposition wanted nothing better than left overs after the US
had dined at the main table.
In large cities, parties are run
by machines and dispense favors. No matter how informed the
voter,
choice is restricted to two to three candidates. In order to appeal to
all economic, religious, cultural and education classes, candidates
indulge in unabashed double talk. Usually the established ones win.
Most Americans presidents, when first elected, are synthetic creations
of public relations firms, who are acceptable to interest groups, which
are governed by big money. Professional party workers are in there for
jobs and favors.
Delegating power:
Professor Hook in Encyclopedia
Americana, “Delegation of authority is inescapable in any political
assemblage…the basic question is whether the delegation is reversible…”
(9).
Democracy is related to making laws and policy. Execution
had necessarily to be delegated— the entire population cannot serve in
the army or deliver mail.
Constitution can easily be perverted
as was clearly seen under Bush II. He and
his team lied through their
teeth. No one in his administration went to jail.
Blair flouted
the clearly expressed opinion of the public against the war in Iraq,
but the opposition collaborated with him to approve the aggression.
A prerequisite to democracy is a well-informed electorate. There are no definitive methods of obtaining such data.
Opinion is formed by the media which are owned by corporations. People
are deluded in thinking that the leaders are following their mandate.
The most illustrative example is the invasion of Iraq for which the
Republican Establishment invented the ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’. The
Democratic establishment meekly fell in line.
Literacy, though
very different from education, can be one criterion. In the USA,
nearly 80% finish high school (12 grades). But a substantial percentage
is virtually illiterate (comparable to the average BA/MA in
Pakistan).
In 1988, “27 million Americans are functionally illiterate, with reading
skills below the fourth grade level and the number grows by 2 million
every year (10).
Functioning democracy requires knowledge of
the government. Even the members of the congress are not well informed.
Their Focus of the public is kept riveted on beer, football and soaps.
Corporate misinformation on Vietnam, Iraq, Israel, Afghanistan and US
health care, should provide sufficient proof even to the skeptics (11).
Democracy is virtually non-existent. At best, serves to obfuscate issues
to befuddle popular thought (12)
During the elections
candidates promise everything that will get them a vote, but forget all
about it soon after election. People can’t do much as the mainstream
party candidates are together in this.
Elections do not
determine policy, which is always at variance with or even
opposed to
public expectations. The one benefit they offer is that they function as
seminars on political awareness. But the process is very long. Indian
voters, even after scores of elections over the last six decades, even
in the absence of the corporate media pushing distractions, are not much
better informed than their Pakistani counterparts, who if the negative
effect of religious fundamentalism could be obviated, would actually be
more enlightened as they are better fed and have more energy to discuss
issues.
Money, war and democracy:
WW I broke out in 1914, the US declared neutrality, but the UK and
France borrowed heavily from the US banks and ordered war supplies. By
1916, it was a stalemate. British and French propaganda machine churned
out lie after lie to persuade the US to join. It succeeded.
Germany made the mistake of not borrowing money on the Wall Street and
announced their
horrifying war plans. The UK and France kept their
intentions a secret.
On 5/7/1915, a US ship, Lusitania, was
torpedoed off the coast of Ireland. Germany had warned the passenger
ships off as the ship carried ammunition, and was a legitimate target,
which claim was denied by the US shipping company. The US had knowingly
cleared the shipment. Subsequent British inquiry established that the
ship did carry ammunition and the British submarines in the area were
under orders not to intercept the Germans and deliberately let them
attack the ship, resulting in the loss of 128 US servicemen (13).
Wilson still kept the US out of war and contested the 1916 elections on
the slogan, “He kept us out of war” while launching preparations to
enter it. They had blatantly lied to the US public (14).
The
era of systematic thought manipulation began. Germans adopted it later;
inherent superiority
of the Aryan race. Clerics joined in. Ray H.
Abrams-Preachers Present Arms 1933 (15).
Wilson declared war on
April 4, 1917 and imposed a virtually dictatorial dispensation. Fierce
anti-German and anti-foreigner propaganda under the Committee on Public
Information, headed by George Creel, was launched (16) German
music-Bach, Beethoven- and language was banished (Post 9/11, US behaved
the same way towards France, changing the name of French Fries to
Freedom Fries). People changed their names in thousands.
Joseph
Goebbels was to emulate Creel, the US Head of the Committee on Public
Information under Wilson’s war cabinet. Nazis were to do the same, at a
much larger scale, to Jews, Gypsies and political opponents (17). Entry
into the war for Democrats required intensive propaganda (18)
In a parliamentary system, pre election positions are more likely to be
adopted as policy. Blair
suffered a setback after 9/11 and had to leave
office due to pressure of public opinion.
Due to the reckless speculation of the financiers, the market crashed in 10/1929.
Depression, contrary to popular belief was not caused by the crash. It
was a consequence of imposing high import tariffs, the “save the
capitalist” policy of Hoover. Foreign capital retaliated. International
trade and manufacturing hit bottom.
Federal Reserve, at the
instance of NY Reserve, which was (and is) under control of Manhattan
Banks, kept the interest rate high. That led to worsening of the
depression and to 25% unemployment and millions more underemployed. It
lowered consumer spending and production and made the depression worse
(19).
Roosevelt promised to cut down federal spending, and
broke the promise immediately after taking office. Scores of agencies,
called the Alphabet soup, at the time,
were set up. Popularity was
gained by direct aid to citizens reduced to poverty and creation of jobs
(20).
The schemes failed. WW II, with massive orders for war
supplies, came to the rescue and lifted the US out of depression and
sent Europe into virtual bankruptcy.
Truman succeeded
Roosevelt. To prevent a general strike in 1950, he had the army seize
the railroads. In 4/52, in order to prevent a general strike, he seized
the steel mills. On 6/2/52, the Supreme Court found the order illegal
(21).
Eisenhower won in 1952 and 1956 against a much more
qualified candidate on the basis of his WW II reputation. Kennedy won
largely on the issue of fictitious missile gap.
Religion plays a
great role in US elections. Truman got nearly all the Jewish votes for
his support of the Zionist state. GW Bush was supported by religious
fundamentalists, including the Muslim ones.
Johnson
ran on a
peace plank, a lie, as he was preparing for expansion of the war, and
got the congress to go along with the fictitious Gulf of Tonkin incident
(Vietnamese torpedoes fired on US warships) (22).
Nixon won on
the basis of a “certain plan to end the war”. He continued the war for
six years, broke all the laws he could and ended up in Watergate.
Jimmy Carter won on the backlash of the pardon and lost the bid for
reelection because of his perceived ineptitude to handle the Iranian
hostage crisis (23). His major achievement was the Camp David peace
accord between Egypt and Israel. The Zionist lobby was unhappy with the
concessions Israel had to concede.
It is widely believed that
the Reagan team negotiated with the Iranian government not to release
the hostages before elections. As a face saving device they were
released only after he had been inaugurated. Iran-contra, some
assert
was the payoff (24).
Reagan did the capitalist bidding and
effectively nullified the welfare measures from Johnson’s time. His
major “achievements” were an attack on Granada, a tiny republic the size
of a mid-size US city and the Iran-Contra scandal (25). The Congress
was reluctant to impeach another president so soon after Nixon.
Bush Sr enraged the Israeli lobby by demanding a freeze on settlements
in the occupied territory in return for a ten billion-loan guarantee
(26). TV channels showed skull cap wearing crowds screaming “we will
see you at election time”. He lost the re-election bid, though he had
enjoyed above 90% approval rating after Gulf 1.
His other
achievement was the invasion of Panama, because his old partner, Noreiga
had started defying the CIA, which did not need the drug money anymore
to fund El-Salvador and Nicaragua terrorists.
Bill
Clinton,
unknown except in the circles of call girls of Arkansas, defeated an
incumbent president because of the Jewish lobby’s opposition to Bush Sr
and the most successful third party candidate, to date, Ross Perot.
Clinton was the most ardent promoter of global corporations. He
deregulated finance, the media and pushed WTO and NAFTA (27). The first
resulted in the meltdown of 2008, the second reduced the number of news
media owners from eighty five to five and the last two tightened the
stranglehold of corporations on third world countries. His time in
office was chiefly memorable for the Monica Lewinsky scandal during
which he public committed perjury, was impeached and escaped dismissal
because he kept on apologizing.
G.W. Bush did not know that
social security was a federal program. He dragged the country into
invasion on Iraq, which he justified on the basis of deliberate lies of
WMD’s in Saddam’s arsenal. The congress went along, as it was cognizant
of the fact that it was the first step to physical control of energy
resources.
The above should be sufficient to establish that
presidential candidates and presidents routinely and deliberately lie
about their intentions.
Above ground tests in Nevada exposed
troops in the vicinity. Clouds settled over Utah. Eisenhower ordered
aides to give ambiguous answers. Proponents of atomic power (supplies
20% energy in the US) tried to equate radiation to smoke from wood, coal
and oil. The Atomic energy commission kept leakage into air and water a
secret for 28 years (28). The excuse was to keep knowledge from
spreading.
Industrial hazards are generally downplayed for the
benefit of corporations, toxics waste is not dealt with by corporations
which created it. (In Nigeria, Bolivia and other third world countries,
gas is simply let out in the atmosphere or burnt into it).
According to Johns-Manville Corporation records, danger of exposure to
asbestos was known as early as 1890s in the UK, but was used till a few
decades ago (29).
Candidates are constructed by speech writers, media men, tailors, artists, stage designers and hair dressers.
People have little knowledge about candidates:
Wilson had a long history of Cerebro-vascular accidents which produced
alteration in behavior (Journal of American history 9/1970, Edward
Wienstien MD, Professor of Neurolgy, Mount Sinai Medical School, tracing
it to 1896 (30). He had spells of irrationality during the April 1919,
Paris peace conference.
After victory, punitive measures for
reparation were forced on Germany. The idiocy of Versailles, are well
documented by John M. Keynes in his “Economic Consequences of
Peace”-1919 (31).
FDR
was paralyzed from waist down, but few
knew about it. Kennedy had Addison’s disease, problem with blood level
of cortisone, a serious disability (32). Johnson had a heart attack
before the 1964 election.
Kennedy was presented as an earnest,
serious, Catholic patriotic veteran of WW II. In fact he was secular,
hedonist and a rank opportunist. Jackie was bribed by his father from
going public about Jack’s womanizing before elections. He magnified a
guerilla training operation into an invasion of Cuba- Bay of Pigs.
Contrary to common belief, he did not inherit it (33). He and his
brother Robert engaged known mobsters to assassinate Fidel Castro, in
clear violation of international and US constitution (34).
Installation of Soviet missiles was a reaction to Bay of Pigs (35).
Khruschev gave in and was dumped by the politburo. More recalcitrant
chiefs followed, ICBMs and submarines were
still on target.
There are degrees of democracy in countries, which hold elections on a
regular basis. The British government is more democratic than the one in
the US, as it has to be more responsive to public opinion, though Blair
went to war in Iraq in the face of overwhelming public opinion. Just
because the process is open, does not mean that the public is well
informed. Corporations act without the least government or democratic
direction, pretty much as they please.
Character of politicians:
David Hume, the Scottish philosopher, 1711-1776, referred to the
natural depravity of mankind in “That Politics May be Reduced to
Science” (36).
They are known from antiquity as dissemblers.
The US ones excel others because they have to cater to a multiplicity of
ethnic, religious and linguistic groups.
Words acquire nuances. Liberal has taken the meaning of support of
unqualified people. Opponents are called racists and bigots.
Democracy stops when a candidate is elected.
Improvement in the lot of the downtrodden is not obtained by a
democratic process. It has to be fought for against the establishment.
The US feudal and commercial class fought a war of independence from
the Britain. It was successful largely because of the help of the
French, traditional rivals of Britain.
Civil war started in 4/1861. The North of the country was
commercial/industri al, while the South was slave owning feudal. The
emancipation proclamation to free slaves in 9/1862 was to strike a blow
against the South. A conflict inevitably arose. In the ensuing civil
war, the North won. Support of blacks made the difference.
In
the disputed 1876 elections, Samuel Tilden of NY, a Democrat, defeated
Rutherford Hayes an Ohio Republican. In the subsequent elections
Southern Democrats opted for Hayes in return for segregation of blacks
(37).
The Supreme Court in 1883, declared the Civil Rights Law
unconstitutional. In 1896, Plessy vs Ferguson, “separate, but equal”
facilities for whites and blacks were ordained, in violation of the
constitution, which does not permit separation, except for criminals in
prisons (38).
Blacks, in effect, reverted to slave status.
In 1954, Brown vs Board of Education, the Supreme Court decided against
school segregation. The USSR was hitting hard at the US racial policy.
In an expected war and for trade, the US needed the support of
non-whites, who constituted the vast majority of the population of the
world (39).
In the early 20th century CE, in Chicago, except
for the Anglo-Saxons and the Scots, all other whites were called
“niggers” (40).
Happy melting pot is an
illusion.
Bibliography/ References:
1.Socrates: ancienthistory. about.com/ od/Socrates. html
2. Ibid.
3. answers.yahoo. com/questions/ index?Qid= 20090320171712AA og 8bf
4. Feilling, Keith,“History of England,” (London: Book Club Associates, 1970).
5. “The Record of the Federal Convention of 1787,” Max Farrard, ed.,
(New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press, 1937, Revised Edition).
6. Federalist Papers no 10: http://wiki. answers.com/ what
7. “19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution”: www.archives. gov/:…/ constitution_ to_the united states
8. Blacks allowed to vote after the Civil War but the 1876 deal with Southern Democrats kept them from voting: www.son of the south.net
9. Prof Hook. www.EncyclopediaCen ter.com
10. The New York Times September 4, 1988.
11. Bush II lies on Iraq WMDs. www.guardian. co.uk/… /15/defector- admits-wmd- lie-Iraq- war
12. Lundberg, Ferdinand,“Myth of Democracy,” (New York: Carol Publishing Group, 1989), p 50.
13. Ibid, p 55.
14. Nisbet, Robert, “America Enters the World,” vol 7, p 568 in “A People’s History of the Progressive Era and WW I,” www.wisconsinhistor y.org
15. Abrams, Ray H.,“Preachers Present Arms,” books.google. com/books/ about/preachers_ present_arms. html?
16. Nisbet, “America Enters the World,” pp 540-566.
17. Ibid, p
572.
18. Ibid, p 578.
19. Lundberg, “Myth of Democracy,” p 59.
20. Ibid, p 60.
21. 1950 Truman Seized Rail roads to crush a union strike and in 4/1952
seized Steel Mills. On 6/2/1954, SC found seizure of steel mills
illegal. jgronseth.hubpages. com
22. Gulf of Tonkin en.wikipedia. org/wiki/ Gulf of Tonkin_incident
23. Rafizadwh, Mansur, “Witness,
From the Shah to Secret Arms Deal: An
Insider’s Account of U.S. Involvement in Iran,” (New York: William
Morrow and Company, Inc, 1987). Iranian Hostage crisis en.wikipedia. org/wiki/ Iran_Hostage_ Crisis
24.
Ibid.Reagan Team secret deal with Iranians not to release hostages till
after elections and Reagan inauguration. books.google. com/books/
about/october_ surprise. html.?id
25. Ibid.Iran Contra scandal. en.wikipedia. org/wiki/ Iran_Contra_ affair
26. Bush I 1990-91 demanded freeze on Israeli settlements in return
for $10 billion loan guarantee. en.wikipedia. org/wiki/ madrid_Conferenc e_of_1991
27. WTO and NAFTA. books.google. com/…/The_ World_Trade_ organization. html; www.naftanow. com
28. The New York Times 11/4/1988.
29. Johns-Manville Corporation asbestos related toxicity. en.wikipedia. org/wiki/ Asbestos
30. Weinstien, Edward MD, Prof of neurology at Mount Sinai Medical
School, New York, article on mental heath of president Wilson during the
Paris Peace conference in Journal of American History, September 1970,
Vol 57, pp 324-351.
31. Keynes, John M., “Economic consequences of Peace 1919,” books.google. com/books/ about/The_ Economic_ Consequences
32. JFK suffered from Addison’s disease group.google. com/group/ alt.assasination .JFK/msg/ 422da.
33. Wills, Garry, “The Kennedy Imprisonment,” pp 232-254;
books.google. com/about/ The_Kennedy_ i8mprisonment
34. Ibid, pp 251-252; 35. Wills, Garry, “The Kennedy Imprisonment,”
36. Hume, David, books.google. couk/books/ about/David_ Hume.html? id=
37.
1876 election, Samuel Tilden of New York and Rutherford Hayes–deal on
segregation of Blacks. books.google. com/books/ about/By_ one_vote.
html?id=u& 4
38. 1883 U.S. Supreme Court declared Civil Rights Law unconstitutional.
1896 Plessy vs Ferguson, SC declares separate but equal rights whites
and blacks. Supreme.justice. com/cases/ federal/us/ 109/3/case. html
39. 1954 US Supreme Court Brown vs Board of Education. www.core-online. org/brown/ vs_board_ html
40. Lundberg, “Myth of Democracy,” p 149
S.M.A.
Ehtisham is a veteran progressive activist. He attended the University
of Karachi in the 1950s. Later he moved to Dow Medical College and
participated actively in left-wing students’ politics. He is also
author of a book titled “A medical Doctor Looks at Life on Three Continents” publishedin 2008 by Algora Publishing of N.Y.C
Dr. S. Akhtar Ehtisham
This posting was very informative and comprehensive. Dr. Ehtisham brings up many valid criticisms of democracy but in his own analysis he says something that shows democracy is superior to any other form of govt. he has described. He says – and i am paraphrasing -” that Blair defied public opinion and joined the Iraq war; but in a later paragraph says that Blair was forced out because of PUBLIC PRESSURE”. So, in other words eventually people did have a say. Could Saddam Hussein have been removed – by Iraqis – after he massacred so many people after the first gulf war? Could the people of Zimbabwe have removed Mugabe ? Again, nobody says democracy is perfect; like anything in life, it has pluses and minuses but as a package would you want to live under any other form of govt. other than where at least you have some voice?
Comments by Akhtar Ehtisham
Blair had to leave, but only after he had assisted the U.S demolish a country in Corporate interest. His successor Gordon Brown did not lift a finger to redress the situation. He lost the election and Tories who are worse came in.
Dictators also lose their jobs as the Shah of Iran did and Musharraf did under public pressure. Majority of the people in Zimbabwe support Mugabe and supported Saddam in Iraq. Popular opinion would differ with that, but popular opinion is manufactured by corporate controlled media.
So called democracy and dictatorship are not much different in net effect-suppression of the poor; only the methodology is different. In a democracy people are deluded into believing that they have the final word.
The most egalitarian system is socialism. Cuba (free health care, education, full employment) and Bolivia and Venezuela are examples.
Socialism failed in the U.S.S.R because imperialists from the very beginning sabotaged it. Islamists and satraps (Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and Wahabists) joined hands with the imperialists and now both are at each other’s throats except when confronted with the establishment of such states as Libya under Ghadafi (a clown no doubt but offered free health care and education, full employment and a $ 50,000 stipend for every new couple) and Syria which has fought Islamic lunatics since the time of Hafiz Assad.
Dr. S. Akhtar Ehtisham
if cuba is such a utopia, why are so many people risking their lives and setting out on little boats to come to america. they are not all foolish. as far as i know nobody from america has attempted the reverse trip to cuba while risking their lives.