The efforts to, er, ‘undermine’ the democratic processes we currently employ proceed apace as this article asks the question: is our democracy ‘obsolete’?
Is Western democracy coming apart at the seams? A decade ago, only paranoid alarmists would have posed that question.
Today, it may be an expression of cold, brutal realism.
On both sides of the Atlantic -- from the fires that raged in large stretches of London, to the political chicanery that brought the U.S. economy to its knees in early August -- the institutional framework that came to define modern democracy in the 19th century is in deep trouble.
The principal organs of financial oversight and management are in tatters. Ferociously xenophobic political movements, an entire constellation of Tea Parties, now play important roles in nearly every European nation, as well as the United States.
Verily, good citizen, ‘democracy as we know it’ is under attack around the globe…and for damn good reason.
The ‘illusion of participation’ has become all too apparent!
The ‘election’ of either party changes nothing. Regardless of who you vote for only the corporate agenda moves forward!
YOUR rights dwindle (not that you had a lot of them in the first place) along with your ‘opportunities’ (which you had even fewer of!)
Thus is the ‘illusion of participation’ perhaps the most effective means of maintaining control…until things get too far out of kilter, then the illusion shatters.
Today even the pundits don’t believe they can effect change via the ballot box (not that this stops them from urging YOU to keep believing! [Mostly because the ‘alternatives’ are too horrible to contemplate.])
Yes, good citizen, how horrific is it that a majority of us would rather remain saddled with an ineffective system than take a chance on true ‘self-rule’?
At the heart of A Simple Plan lies precisely that, rules without rulers.
It should come as a surprise to no one that our (repeated) financial crises stem from the (purposefully) vague and misleading/shifting definition of what constitutes ’money’.
How does this happen?
Like everything else that ’fucks up’ in our society, we have no say! Our ’right to disagree’ is stripped from us by an unjust (for profit) legal system.
Our (for profit) media lies to us constantly and there isn’t a thing we can do about it!
Why?
Because the people who sit in judgment are ’for sale’!
Worse, those who take it upon themselves to determine what is or is not ’valuable’ ALWAYS favor themselves the most!
Under A Simple Plan NONE of those things CAN occur…(and not for a lack of trying either!)
First, the ‘legal system’ gets totally overhauled (no more lawyers and no more judges)
The new way is ‘cops and magistrates’ who do not sit in judgment as much as they are ‘referees’ insuring that procedures are followed.
Cops decide if the law has been breached and juries decide guilt or innocence. Does everybody get a jury? Unless you waive one, hell yeah!
Sounds like we’d all be on perpetual jury duty but that’s not the case because many things that are crimes today will not be crimes in the future!
And a few things that are currently ’perfectly legal’ today will get you exiled in a heartbeat!
And that starts with even ’suggesting’ that somebody ‘owes’ you anything…
When we convert from a debtor society to a debt free one, the act of making someone a debtor will become a crime!
Which is to point out that many of the things you currently pay for under the ’fuck you, pay me’ system will be ’free’ (as in no charge!)
But I digress!
A bit ’presumptive’ of me to jump right into one of the less terrible alternatives without first passing judgment on the demise of the current system.
Understand, good citizen, even A Simple Plan is NOT a proverbial ’bed of roses’. It will be ’difficult’ managing true supply and demand against an abbreviated workweek/day.
With ’equity’ will come crowding but as they like to say, getting there is half the fun!
New venues will be built and new social norms developed as old, outdated social models are replaced with more sustainable practices.
Not only will these new lifestyles be more practical, they will also be ’better’.
So in answer to the question “Is democracy as we have come to know it dead?” I’d say not really but we’d be better off if it were!
The ‘underlying intent’ of the current system was to keep as many people ‘out of the loop’ as possible, which really sucks because we all have to live ‘under the law’.
If you are forced to live ‘under the law’ you should be allowed your say and, perhaps most importantly, enjoy true ‘equal treatment’ under those laws.
That’s what sucks about today, the laws don’t apply to the elite, they only apply to us ‘peasants’.
Of course, this is where revolutions come from!
Thanks for letting me inside your head,
Gegner
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