What Real Democracy Looks Like

The USA in 2012 is not a true democracy...

SO HILARY CLINTON calls on  Egypt, Syria, Libya, and China to "democratize." But democracy, as practiced by the US and other developed countries, is a fraud. It is just a way for the insiders to scam money and power from the outsiders, by pretending that the voters are in charge, writes Bill Bonner in the Daily Reckoning.

Just ask how many taxpayers would vote to spend about $10,000 each on the war against Iraq?

How many would vote to spend $1.60 cents for every Dollar in tax revenue?

How many would vote for the latest mortgage deal...where homeowners who saved their money and paid their mortgages are forced to make up for those who bought houses recklessly...and then couldn't make their payments?

How many would vote to bail out Goldman Sachs...Bank of America...or Citigroup?

But voters never get a chance to vote on the issues. They vote for candidates...financed by insiders, with agendas the outsiders cannot even imagine.

The word 'democracy' arose in small, Greek city states, where the voters actually voted on the concrete issues, not just the slippery candidates. Citizens voted to go to war...knowing not only that they would have to pay for it...but that they could be killed in the battles themselves. War was a matter of life and death, not just a campaign slogan of a chubby, middle-aged draft-dodger.

The Italian city states practiced real democracy too. In 15th century Florence, for example, citizens voted on whether or not to build a cathedral... Then, they voted on what shape it should take.

A scale model was built. Citizens knew what it would look like. They understood how it was built and how much it would cost them. They cast their ballots and took responsibility for the outcome.

American democracy, circa 2012, has no more in common with real democracy than American capitalism has in common with real capitalism. Both are degenerate...corrupt...and geriatric.

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