Re: Democracy is nothing more or less than the rule of the majority. Do you have a different definition?
No, I just have another word for it: psephocracy.
"Psephocracy" somehow removes the ideological pretense that cloaks "democracy". Psepho-cracy literally means "power to/rule of the ballot". Now, you'll contend that, since everybody (that is, apart from the underage, criminal, mentally ill, etc) is eligible to vote, psephocracy eventually boils down to democracy?! Well, not exactly. First, the candidates themselves are not random, there's no freedom of choice as far as the candidates cast is concerned. In the US, whether we're talking of Senators, Governors, House members, even mayors of large cities, the voters must pick their "elected officials" from a list of white, conservative, God-fearing billionaires... And, talking of the "majority" criterion, it's a demographic fact that women are the majority --how does that translate into US politics?
Second, it's notorious that the state, that is, the bourgeois police-state has routinely resorted to unlawful ways to eliminate the challengers and the mavericks who openly, democratically threaten the existing social order... After all, that's partly why you don't have a Socialist Party in the US. From Eugene Debs to Malcom X, all the troublemakers were mercilessly reined in by the state's countersubversion plug-uglies.
Third, just because all eligible adults are allowed to vote doesn't mean that they're actually RUNNING the show --otherwise, you'd never hear about cunning politicians who have broken their promises... "Read my lips", remember?
So, to sum it up, our current psephocratic regime merely gives the people the illusion of democracy... Just like the "Close Door" button in most elevators --it's a dummy button...
Gus |
