What Do You Think? - Part I
“What do you think? What do you see as the major problem facing the U.S.A.? If you could fix one thing, what would it be? Do you believe it possible to heal the damage to our civil liberties, our freedom, and our world image? What do you think? I really want to know.”
These questions were posed by Buffalo. This is the first part of my response concerning “the major problem” and the one thing I would like to fix.
The major problem in the USA is a lack of democratic leadership!
We need leaders who believe in democracy. Democracy is government by the people. It is rule of the majority. It is a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people. In theory -- but not in reality – the USA. is a democracy.
How can we claim to be a democracy when politicians resort to filibusters and manipulate voting sessions and suppress the opportunity for dissenting opinions to be voiced? How can we claim to be a democracy when our leaders know that valid opinion polls differ with their political agendas and they ignore the will of the people?
A democratic leader encourages discussion and dissent. He or she will stand to the front and defend the right of all opinions to be spoken. The person who believes in the democratic process will do more listening than speaking. The goal of a democratic leader is to determine the will of the voters.
In reality we have not a democracy but an oligarchy. An oligarchy is government by the few. It is a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes. I assert that we have two competing oligarchies trying to wrest power from the other.
Our country was created by a brief violent revolutionary conflict. Slowly and silently our country has been lost to a few who speak the language but do not believe in democracy.
(Tomorrow, I’ll post part two of my response)
These questions were posed by Buffalo. This is the first part of my response concerning “the major problem” and the one thing I would like to fix.
The major problem in the USA is a lack of democratic leadership!
We need leaders who believe in democracy. Democracy is government by the people. It is rule of the majority. It is a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people. In theory -- but not in reality – the USA. is a democracy.
How can we claim to be a democracy when politicians resort to filibusters and manipulate voting sessions and suppress the opportunity for dissenting opinions to be voiced? How can we claim to be a democracy when our leaders know that valid opinion polls differ with their political agendas and they ignore the will of the people?
A democratic leader encourages discussion and dissent. He or she will stand to the front and defend the right of all opinions to be spoken. The person who believes in the democratic process will do more listening than speaking. The goal of a democratic leader is to determine the will of the voters.
In reality we have not a democracy but an oligarchy. An oligarchy is government by the few. It is a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes. I assert that we have two competing oligarchies trying to wrest power from the other.
Our country was created by a brief violent revolutionary conflict. Slowly and silently our country has been lost to a few who speak the language but do not believe in democracy.
(Tomorrow, I’ll post part two of my response)
posted by Paul at 6:21 AM
4 Comments:
Well stated and absolutely accurate.
What Buf said, and like he told me, "you ain't wrong".
The truth is you get some one who is honest in politics and they will be hunted like an animal, drawn and quartered and if they are lucky, they might live to talk about it.
It is the blind stupidity of it all
actually we have a republic, not a democracy :)
but good post
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