tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611409863712113861.post6038684087623112046..comments2023-06-27T10:33:35.086-04:00Comments on kirbycairo: The "Melting-Pot" is Boiling Over. . . .Kirbycairohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17528654183160305877noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611409863712113861.post-90611406113503074172016-03-18T21:37:41.175-04:002016-03-18T21:37:41.175-04:00Last year, former US president Jimmy Carter called...Last year, former US president Jimmy Carter called the US "<a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/videos/jimmy-carter-u-s-is-an-oligarchy-with-unlimited-political-bribery-20150731" rel="nofollow">an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery.</a>" It's not far from there to outright fascism, whether you define that as you did or as Upton Sinclair did when he called it simply "capitalism plus murder."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611409863712113861.post-55884589152107438932016-03-18T18:55:55.585-04:002016-03-18T18:55:55.585-04:00@ Lorne - You are right, it is a sort of chicken v...@ Lorne - You are right, it is a sort of chicken vs egg question. But no matter where one comes down on the issue, there is little question that the Americans are reaping what they have sown. <br /><br />@ Mound, Yes it is clear that 'liberal democracy' is far too fragile to be depended upon. It is going to take constant vigilance to avoid a disastrous, fascist future. Kirbycairohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17528654183160305877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611409863712113861.post-3184550475858034432016-03-18T14:51:01.504-04:002016-03-18T14:51:01.504-04:00I have reluctantly come to believe that liberal de...I have reluctantly come to believe that liberal democracy, if undefended, succumbs first to illiberal democracy and then on to more extreme forms of authoritarian rule. We were somehow brought up to believe that liberal democracy was so superior, so naturally dominant, that, once achieved it would be self-perpetuating. It was enough that we turned out to vote to ensure its continuation.<br /><br />Neoliberalism, it turns out, is incompatible with liberal democracy. It is the foundational basis for globalism and political capture. This is most obviously evidenced in America's "bought and paid for" Congress that routinely operates in defiance of the public will at the behest of monied interests that it relies upon. Rome, in its dying years, evolved a similar "transactional democracy." <br /><br />We have been lax in defending liberal democracy although not nearly to the extent as our American cousins. Electoral reform will go a long way to buttressing our democratic freedoms but we can't assume that will be enough in its own right. We have to be vigilant in keeping tabs on the restoration of our democracy which was more extensively mauled during the Harper era than most Canadians appreciate. <br /><br />A critical step that no one save the Greens advocates is restoring press freedom by breaking up the corporate media cartel. New voting procedures are wonderful but the quality of the vote inevitably depends on having a genuinely informed electorate. This demands that the public have ready access to the broadest range of political opinion and reporting, from the far left to the far right and everything in between. That cannot be achieved while the media languishes under corporate concentration of ownership and cross-ownership. People today are hearing a narrow, corporate voice which manifests in messaging disguised as information. We've seen in the States how rightwing corporate media have accommodated the rise of fascist elements. Let's not fall into that same trap in Canada.<br /><br />The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611409863712113861.post-58736133042843068472016-03-18T11:59:38.953-04:002016-03-18T11:59:38.953-04:00A perceptive analysis, Kirby. While I agree with y...A perceptive analysis, Kirby. While I agree with you assertion that a policy of multiculturalism has made us far more accepting than Americans, I suppose one could argue that policy is also an outward expression of our more liberal and outward-looking values. <br /><br />I also think of the Turner thesis, which you are likely quite familiar with. Unlike the U.S. experience in the opening of its frontier, ours was preceded by the establishment of legal institutions that prevented the kind of 'wild west' mentality that seems to plague Americans to this day.Lornehttp://www.politicsanditsdiscontents.blogspot.canoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611409863712113861.post-45358478562581070232016-03-18T11:32:36.061-04:002016-03-18T11:32:36.061-04:00I agree, Kirby. Nations slip into fascism. They do...I agree, Kirby. Nations slip into fascism. They don't suddenly chose it as the best option.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.com