While more folks than not think I am far too left of the pragmatic mean necessary to be effective in editorial persuasion, in truth, I like being free to do whatever I damn well please every bit as much as that happy-go-lucky fellow over there waiting for a bus with a grin on his unshaven mug. I also like the things that having a surplus of bucks in my pocket can buy me, and even some of same to leave behind for my loved ones when I'm in that eternally private hole in the ground (fat chance, unfortunately; but I am trying).
True, when push comes to ideological shove, I identify myself as some form of social democrat, primarily because I think there should be a 'floor' through which no living soul on earth should be allowed to fall. However, the label of 'democrat'--and I don't mean party, although I am a registered member of that 'yellow dog' entity in the U.S.--is getting more and more tricky to stay glued to. Gracious sakes alive, where is there a nation of any size or substance that is more than a lip-service 'democracy' according to any number of definitions of the term? Can't think of one? Don't fret, neither can anyone else. A Republic or two? Yes. But even that moniker is getting dicey to stick on with conscientious certainty.
What is all of this more than a little precious narrative leading to? I want you to read a provocative article by a fairly accomplished fellow in political 'Democracy' and capitalism (even "Supercapitalism," as you will learn).
I will excerpt the first few paragraphs of an article I believe you must read in its entirety. It is published in Foreign Policy Magazine, a publication that can exhilerate you or infuriate you, often at the same time, which I subscribe to; however, this particular article is free (you may or may not need to register, depending upon the vagaries of the Internet and links between my computer and yours).
How Capitalism Is Killing Democracy By Robert B. Reich
It was supposed to be a match made in heaven. Capitalism and democracy, we've long been told, are the twin ideological pillars capable of bringing unprecedented prosperity and freedom to the world. In recent decades, the duo has shared a common ascent. By almost any measure, global capitalism is triumphant. Most nations around the world are today part of a single, integrated, and turbocharged global market. Democracy has enjoyed a similar renaissance. Three decades ago, a third of the world's nations held free elections; today, nearly two thirds do.
Conventional wisdom holds that where either capitalism or democracy flourishes, the other must soon follow. Yet today, their fortunes are beginning to diverge. Capitalism, long sold as the yin to democracy's yang, is thriving, while democracy is struggling to keep up. China, poised to become the world's third largest capitalist nation this year after the United States and Japan, has embraced market freedom, but not political freedom. Many economically successful nations-from Russia to Mexico-are democracies in name only. They are encumbered by the same problems that have hobbled American democracy in recent years, allowing corporations and elites buoyed by runaway economic success to undermine the government's capacity to respond to citizens' concerns.
Of course, democracy means much more than the process of free and fair elections. It is a system for accomplishing what can only be achieved by citizens joining together to further the common good. But though free markets have brought unprecedented prosperity to many, they have been accompanied by widening inequalities of income and wealth, heightened job insecurity, and environmental hazards such as global warming. Democracy is designed to allow citizens to address these very issues in constructive ways. And yet a sense of political powerlessness is on the rise among citizens in Europe, Japan, and the United States, even as consumers and investors feel more empowered. In short, no democratic nation is effectively coping with capitalism's negative side effects.
