by Bill Gilbert
Our Republic does not have a people’s representative democracy!
If we did, we would not have the following protracted economic, environmental, and social problems.
Among the industrialized nations we are: number one in prison population with 2.3 million people incarcerated, first in teen birth rates, and some of the highest rates of STD’s, first in illiteracy, poverty, racism, homelessness, income disparity, child hunger, child poverty, drug use and drug related deaths, use of antidepressants, violence, firearms deaths, not providing access to health care for all of our citizens, not providing child care for working parents, the most military spending, hazardous waste production, recorded rapes, and the poor quality of its public schools, and lowest in life expectancy. This is warp-speed decline.
A run-away, exploitive capitalism and a broken political system are killing us.
Starting in 1981 with Ronald Reagan’s “tax reform” legislation, more of the tax burden was shifted from the wealthy to the middle and lower-income level taxpayers.
During the last 42 years, there has occurred the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of our country. No other democratic nation takes as large a portion of its revenue from working people at the lower ends of the economic spectrum and as little from persons who have property or high incomes. In 41 states, the richest 1 percent pay lower tax rates than everyone else. (Source: www.aclu.org/equalitynow/)
The present form of capitalism is built around organized theft — the theft of the value of what workers produce by the people who employ them. Perhaps someday we can have democratic capitalism where everyone benefits.
Presently we have a corporate-congressional-security-state. Its priority now, spearheaded mostly, but not entirely, by the Republican Party, is straight-forward: (a) Do away with taxation of the wealthy, (b) Do away with regulations, (often adversely affecting the public’s health and safety) and (c) Take over all public services of water, schools, utilities, and public lands by: de-funding them, declaring them non-functional, and then privatizing them – transferring more wealth to the 1 percent.
We are being overwhelmed by our failure to keep up with change. And, we are being overwhelmed with problems that have not been adequately dealt with by our broken political system/government and those who profit from the status quo.
Let’s take a look to see how we got here.
1. In 1886 the Supreme Court decision of Santa Clara v. Southern Pacific Railroad mistakenly gave corporations the “rights of human beings.” This ruling should be overturned.
2. In 2010 the Supreme Court decision of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission made the bribery of our politicians of both political parties legal. Unlimited amounts of money can be given even in secrecy. This ruling must be overturned.
In a 1938 speech to Congress, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “The liberty (freedom) of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself … That is in essence, fascism – ownership of government by an individual, by a group or by any other controlling [corporate] private power.”
We have pressing problems that must be addressed: global warming/climate change; continuous war; poverty; managing Artificial Intelligence (AI) so it will be our friend instead of enemy; making our economic system equitable or democratic. What is next?