Democracy

Everyone speaks of democracy as if there's a common understanding of what this word means, but it's one of the harder of political labels to actually find in the world. With perhaps the exception of a few New England town meetings or or other small groups, true democracy has never been in place for long, and in the US, it really was never considered and actually opposed by most of the Republican founders. So, despite Bush's arrogant claims to 'bring democracy' to Iraq, we really need to question and examine just what is being proposed. Democracy is actually a fairly recent concept in terms of actually being used; flowering a few times in history, but only setting solid roots in the 18th century, and the question is still open as to whether it will thrive. There are many books to suggest, both fiction and non-fiction; history and polemic. Historical fiction is often a superb way to show the actual workings of past societies/ The earliest true attempt at democracy was in Athens in the 5th century BCE. and its lifespan was brief, emerging from resistance to tyrants and lasting only a few decades until oligarchies and tyrants regained control. The Peloponnesian War was in large part the struggle between the Athenian Empire [ democratic, but including both slavery and subjugation of an extended collection of 'allies' for tribute and resources] versus the Spartan league [ dominated by oligarchies with a feudal basis]. The final result of this long war was to weaken both antagonists and undermine their political systems. Events in the war's aftermath are described in, The Trial of Socrates . I.F. Stone places the writings of Plato in the context of Plato's and Socrates' support for oligarchy rather than democracy. The Roman Republic was a later experiment in the development of democracy, with an elaborate system of balances that worked for a time, but was again unable to respond and adapt to the needs of an expanding empire. Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series of novels is the best re-creation of the politics of the last century of the Republic. While relying on the noblesse oblige of an aristocracy, the Republic also had democratic elements. Often, as in Athens, democracy was usurped by demagogues. Venice was the next state to try forms of democracy, and by far the longest lasting, although once again, its constitution was more republican or oligarchical. Various smaller experiments in city-state communes of medieval Europe followed, including the longstruggles against Medici domination in Florence. [Machiavelli - The Prince ] The 17th century saw renewed democracy in philosophy and practice, especially in England and the new Dutch Republic. But it was the 18th century that gave violent birth to the major democratic revolutions in America and France. The American experiment in democracy has degenerated into a plutocracy, in which wealth and power preempt democracy's ideals of equality and freedom [cf Kevin Phillips' Wealth & Democracy]. While Phillips gives a depressing history of the decline, and its corruption thru the centuries, Cadillac Desert focuses on perhaps the biggest corrupter of all - the sprawling water projects of the American West, in which water is diverted at huge cost to grow crops no one needs, all to support giant corporations that threaten to wipe out the family farms that were the rationale for the projects in the first place. Taken together, these books demonstrate that ideology or the party in power matters little - elections become a charade, masking the control of government by capital and its corporate controllers. Click more on this peculiar American Empire ..... after the American Century

Other links: Cadillac Desert The American West & Its Disappearing Water Early American - Revolution & Federalism Kevin Phillips - Wealth & Democracy, Cousins's War Inventing A Nation - Gore Vidal The Blank Slate Steven Pinker Perilous Times - Free Speech in Wartime Politics & Economics