(ThyBlackMan.com) Although I have enjoyed watching movies and reading books for many years, I freely admit that I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist. Artistically, I like high concept premises as much as anyone, but the rules of reality are ever-present. As we speed towards the abyss of defaulting on our national debt, I had an epiphany earlier today. In 2013, our American system of government is democracy in name only.
I am well-aware of the content of our Constitution. I know the oath which every Senator and Congressman must swear to before he or she assumes office. I understand how our government was structured and how it is supposed to work. Right now, none of that matters. Right now, everything is theoretical; nothing is actual. Compromise – once a foundation to American governance – is now a curse word. Courage – once an attribute to be admired and emulated in Washington, D.C. – has given way to political cowardice.
Good faith – the invisible, yet tangible currency Republicans and Democrats long paid toward themselves and each other – has been replaced by hatred, hostility, and wholly false promises.
Good people, without compromise or courage or good faith negotiations and practices, you cannot possibly maintain the democratic system of government. It simply won’t work. If you can’t have democracy here in the good ole U.S. of A., can you truly have it anywhere?
A case can easily be made that here and now in America, our true system of governance is aristocracy. In an aristocracy, the government is run by a ruling class. Who makes up this ruling class, you ask? The leaders of an aristocracy are composed of a class or group superior to all other citizens of that nation. Such leaders are appointed by their genetic makeup, their wealth, their power, their nobility, even their last names. Terms synonymous with aristocrats include: noblemen, upper class, elite, gentry, and peerage. People of the wrong socioeconomic, racial, political, professional, educational, cultural, social, and/or intellectual subsets are excluded from joining the aristocratic party. And if you’re not one of them, you don’t exist to them.
The 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission resulted in people and/or corporations being able to give unlimited sums of money via political donations without transparency or disclosure of any kind. In other words, elections – and the candidates running for elected offices – are essentially for sale. Money is now considered free speech. That decidedly cynical court ruling was a huge blow against democracy; and a great boon for aristocracy. Aristocrats don’t want you peons to have access to affordable healthcare. Aristocrats don’t want you commoners to be able to vote. Aristocrats don’t want you peasants to have a livable working wage. After all, they consider us part of the great unwashed.
It could reasonably be argued that currently in the United States, our actual system of governance is timocracy. A timocratic government is run solely by property owners. An individual’s ability to participate politically in this system is entirely dependent on his or her ability to generate wealth. Only people who own land, real estate, buildings, and commercial operations can vote in the timocratic system. Members of the poor, the working poor, and the middle class need not ever apply. To a timocrat, affluence means honor.
Ours is a political system in which Willard “Mitt” Romney – a very, very wealthy man by any definition – could raise and spend $2 billion in an unsuccessful campaign to be elected the President of the United States in 2012. Ours is a political system in which Mr. Romney never had to publicly disclose his true net worth; his personal holdings, or even what he actually paid in taxes on his vast income. Timocrats consider anyone who is not wealthy as takers. Timocrats view poverty or illness or hardship as the inevitable results of poor personal decisions or laziness. What was it Herman Cain famously told the Occupy Wall Street protestors in 2011? “If you’re not rich, blame yourself.” Precisely.
Perhaps what used to be democracy in America has been replaced by plutocracy. A plutocracy is a system of government which is totally dominated by the very wealthiest of its citizenry. Plutocrats seek to use their vast fortunes to serve only themselves and their own narrow self-interests; increasing class bias, poverty, and corruption in the process. Hello, Koch brothers.
How strange that GOPers claim our Constitution is sacrosanct; even as they willfully ignore it. The Republicans repeatedly reveal themselves as aristocrats, timocrats, and plutocrats – while they call President Obama socialist, monarch, and dictator. They view themselves as the rightful ruling class. The GOP want their way; period. The U.S. government shutdown is part of their blind ambition. To them, democracy is passe. No means yes. What a mess.
Staff Writer; Arthur L. Jones, III
This talented brother is a local Minister, weekly featured Democratic Op-Ed columnist, non-profit advisor, and sees the Braves winning it all this fall. Rev. Jones welcomes your comments! Please email him directly at: tcdppress@gmail.com.