Posted: Jan 26, 2017 7:15 pm
All About That Base
Our democracies are broken, debased and distrusted. Here are some ideas for restoring them.
By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian, 25th January 2017
[snip]
http://www.monbiot.com/2017/01/26/all-about-that-base/
----
Not exactly discovery, to me, kinda figured it out not too long after the so-called Velvet Revolution, living in totalitarian regime proved to be an excellent benchmark, as others done before me but .. back to base(ics) indeed, what's the alternative or better yet, as there is no alternative, what's the fix?
Our democracies are broken, debased and distrusted. Here are some ideas for restoring them.
By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian, 25th January 2017
Debased and de-based: that’s the condition of our political systems. Corrupted, they no longer fulfil their democratic potential. They have also lost their base: the politically engaged population from which democracy is supposed to grow. The sense of ownership has been eroded to such an extent that, for millions of Americans, Donald Trump appeared to be the best the system had to offer.
I don’t blame people for voting for him, or for Brexit: these are responses to a twisted, distrusted system. Elections captured by money, lobbyists and the media; policy convergence among the major parties, crushing real choice; the hollowing out of parliaments and other political institutions and the transfer of their powers to unaccountable bodies: these are a perfect formula for disenfranchisement and disillusion. The global rise of demagogues and outright liars suggests that a system nominally built on consent and participation is imploding.
So could we do better? Could a straighter system be fashioned from the crooked timber of humanity? This is the second of my occasional series on possible solutions to the multiple crises we confront. It explores some of means by which democracy might be improved.
[snip]
http://www.monbiot.com/2017/01/26/all-about-that-base/
----
Not exactly discovery, to me, kinda figured it out not too long after the so-called Velvet Revolution, living in totalitarian regime proved to be an excellent benchmark, as others done before me but .. back to base(ics) indeed, what's the alternative or better yet, as there is no alternative, what's the fix?