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the Philosophy of Self-Rule versus Representative Government By Punkerslut
Greetings, In many ways, I feel like I share the same ideals as you do. However, I'm completely in disagreement about how you plan to implement these ideals. For instance, take this one principle you advocate: "The right of all people to private ownership and to participate freely in the market economy." There is no government in the world that has ever created the "free market economy." Take the United States, for instance, which has been hailed as a "Democratic Conservative nation." The capitalist Carnegie shot and killed five of his own workers just for striking. A few decades later, Governor Carnegie ordered the killing of the slave revolt that took place at Attica State Prison. And by slave -- I mean slave. I mean men who were locked up without evidence, without a fair trial, and then made to work at gun point. Camps and prisons like this exist throughout the nation, and in other places where revolts break out, the people are gunned down. Striking workers in India, in 1945, were gunned down by British "democratic" forces. Even recently, during the president of George W. Bush, police violence has openly been used as a threat against striking workers. ["Bush orders 'cooling off' period at United," United Press International, Jan 21, 2002.] Where is the "free market" here? I saw the free market when companies bought up all the lands, when they sold everything you made, and when they were counting their profits. But what about the free market when the workers are negotiating for their wages? Where is the free market here? It doesn't exist. The market is "free" for the rich and the wealthy, but it is completely unfree for the laborers and the workers. After Hurricane Katrina, for instance, the police in the south of the United States reverted back to the KKK for the slaveowners, and actually enslaved Hispanic workers. ["SPLC Settlement Recovers Wages for Hurricane Katrina Cleanup Workers," 07/21/2009, Southern Poverty Law Center.] Slavery still exists, in our own nation and abroad. The dictatorships that came about in Indonesia, Chile, Burma, and Iran -- you must certainly know that they were set up by "free marketeer American investors," right? You seem to advocate "Elections that are regular, free and fair." Why, then, does the United States encourage authoritarian governments in the developing world? Why would the United States create so many monarchs, so many tyrants, when it is also based on the principle of election? Quite simply, it is because anyone who has power, no matter how they get it, is corruptible. This is not a suggestion; it is the iron law of history. There is a reason why law books differentiate between "de jure law" (actual law) and "de facto law" (enforced law). It is because there has not been one single government in the history of humanity who followed its own laws fairly. You will not be able to find a democratic government. After two thousand years of searching, it has not been found. Since the development of representative government in ancient Greece to our present institutions -- the law has been used to exploit the poor and to uplift the rich. Have you not wondered why all of the media outlets are owned by a very few people? Have you not wondered why all of the television and newspapers are owned by the same people who nominate candidates for office? Somehow, you advocate for "fair elections," but an election drowned in the propaganda of the ruling party isn't quite "unfair." That is, unless you'd be go so willing as to call the United States government to be based on "unfair elections." It is a social censorship, where news agencies misreport everything. Only a few years ago, with the support of the US, Mexican soldiers were performing summary executions of the indigenous people of Oaxaca. Rebeca Romero, from the Associated Press, claimed that these killings were from "armed gangs." (Dec 11, 2006, 12:33 AM (ET)) Why would these newspapers tell us that people are killing each other -- when it is "the Democratically-elected government" that is actually doing the killing? It's quite simple: the truth is a threat to tyranny. That is why capitalists support representative government. It is because they can still control the population -- since they already have the power to deny any person the food they need to live. "Equality before the law" -- what a novel idea. This was implemented into the United States Constitution sixty years before "mass forced labor camps" for Africans was abolished. Few history books report that the federal prison system took over the plantation system in the exploitation of the black people in the United States. ("Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II," Douglas A. Blackmon.) Where is this equality before the law? Did it exist for prosecuting state officials after the killing at Waco? Or the massacre in Philadelphia, or the killings in New York City, or Los Angeles, or New Orleans, or Washington D.C.? When has a government official ever been charged for crimes? Only when it benefited the wealthy and the powerful. If you're looking for Democracy, and you want it to look Democratic... Then create Anarchism: a society where people are living in cooperative, voluntary relationships. There is no need to waste time on solutions that have provided us with thousands of years of slavery, tyranny, and genocide. Thank you. I hope you've read this far. I patiently await a response. Sincerely,
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