A Democracy in Deep Disrepair

[marmar]

from Too Much: A Commentary on Excess and Inequality:



A Democracy in Deep Disrepair
In contemporary American political life, only the rich can afford to be politically impatient. The big question: How long will the rest of us tolerate such a unrepresentative political status quo?

By Sam Pizzigati


Four score years ago, amid the tumult of the Great Depression, Americans rethought their democracy. Out of that rethinking came the New Deal — and a generation of steadily growing equality and prosperity.

Might our current Great Recession trigger another new epoch of rethinking? Annie Lowrey, an editor with America’s most influential foreign policy journal, hopes so — and she’s doing her part. If we Americans believe in representative government, a Lowrey column suggested earlier this month, why do we tolerate an institution as anti-democratic as the U.S. Senate?

Our Senate allocates votes strictly by state. America’s 21 smallest states currently hold just a tenth of the nation’s total population. Yet these states have enough Senate votes, between them, to prevent the passage of any legislation.

What would happen, Lowrey wonders, if we allocated senators by some other yardstick? Imagine, she asks, if our 100 senators represented income brackets and not states, “with two senators representing the poorest 2 percent of the electorate, two senators representing the richest 2 percent, and so on.”

If we allocated Senate votes that way, then 94 of our 100 senators would owe their election to Americans making under $100,000 a year. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://toomuchonline.org/a-democracy-in-deep-disrepair/

[ixion]

1. I think calling this a 'recession', great or otherwise, is premature, at best...

It implies that the worst is behind us, which I do not believe. I believe we're just getting started, and that we ain't seen nothin' yet, as the saying goes.

[Demeter]

2. Always the Optimist!

That's what I appreciate about you, ixion, dear.

[ixion]

5. Thanks, Demeter! so was Murphy

and so am I, in that same spirit. :rofl: :hi:

[KoKo]

3. Given the rats fleeing the House and Senate these days from both parties

I'd say I agree with you! The worst is yet to come. Remember the old saying about "Rats leave the sinking ship, first?" (Didn't want to leave the impression I was using the Freeper term for Dems...) ugh.

[Doctor_J]

4. Personally, I think this could be solved, or at least

repair begun, with serious consequences rendered to everyone at Fox "News", everyone in hate radio, and everyone in Big Media.

That's the good news. The bad news is that I think within a short period of time it's going to come down to a choice between that or the death of America. We're either going to have to fight back or become Haiti/Rwanda.

[Lorien]

6. Even more than half of DUers agree with Rush Limbaugh on the Fairness doctrine

I suspect that's because half of them are far too young to remember the media before Reagan repealed it. Reinstating the Fairness Doctrine should be the first step, imho. The second should be election reform.

[Doctor_J]

7. A lot of them are Fox "News" and hate radio addicts too

As I said, severe repercussions for sedition, treason, and slander, carried out by a public that's had enough, will change the dialog. But it won't be easy.