For starters, it's a republic. Run primarily for the wealthy? Well, a lot of us ARE wealthy, and by some standards (including my own) we are ALL wealthy. And we all have an equal vote. We can all express our opinions without fear.
Fragmented? Yes. Clinton gave us the salad bowl and put the melting pot on the back burner -- no off the stove. It's pretty unmanageable, and though Jefferson left us with an ethic that suggests a little revolution might be a good thing, we are a LONG way from needing it.
Corruption is relatively a MUCH bigger item in smaller countries, maybe even most countries of any size. Name me one that has a better, more ethical and dedicated civil service.
The courts, I think, are our weakest link. Check out your Reader's Digest for a list of America's worst judges. Trial Lawyers have great access to them and great benefit for themselves, marginal benefit for the rest of us.
I suggest counting your blessings.
Message #137861 from X the Unknown at Jun 24, 2004 5:26 PM
I don't think of what we have as a democracy. The "people" in this country have very little real power, nor, I think, could they get much power if they wanted it, short of a revolution. What we have in the US is an oligarchy- run primarily by the wealthy and for the wealthy. Of course the people in power keep in power by "safeguarding" those socialist programs that lull the electorate into a sense of well-being, but the real power is shared between people in positions of authority in government, wealthy individuals (who overlap significantly with people in government- due to the incestuous relationship between money and access to political power) and the individuals who run large corporations.
I agree with you that the courts are the best avenue of access to power for a citizen in this country- but even the courts are manipulated by money and power.
If we lived in a smaller, more manageably governed country the corruption would probably be less extreme- but America is too large, and too fragmented a society, to be governed in any way approaching "democracy," imo, of course. |
