Since Democracy is Dead in America

[99th_Monkey]

Princeton Study: U.S. No Longer An Actual Democracy
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/princeton-experts-say-us-no-longer-democracy

Jimmy Carter: ‘America no longer has a functioning democracy’
http://dailycaller.com/2013/07/17/jimmy-carter-america-no-longer-has-a-functioning-democracy/

...then why do we even bother having elections at all?

Why not just put up the Presidency and Congress seats for bid, and the highest
bidders win ... then all the billion$ now spent on lobbying, campaigns & elections
could go directly into the US Treasury.

[Agnosticsherbet]

1. The Constitution requires elecdtions. They will continue so that the illusion

is maintained.

[First Speaker]

3. How long before even the illusion is thrown overboard?

...and would anybody--outside of a few sour diehards like us--really give a shit? In Pohl and Kornbluth's *The Space Merchants*, Congress and the Presidency are in fact just given to the highest bidder. Some "Libertarians" strongly hint right now that something along these lines would be better than liberal democracy and One Man, One Vote. How much longer before this becomes an "issue" in our "national discourse"...?

[Agnosticsherbet]

4. In 2014, 93.8% of the candidates who spent the most money, won their elections.

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2014/11/money-won-on-tuesday-but-rules-of-the-game-changed/

The illusion will remain as long as it works. It is uggly and messy to change a system, and for some time it would be bad for bussiness.

[hifiguy]

7. The definitive quote on this question

“The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.”

Frank Zappa

They're moving the tables and chairs as we speak.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. I prefer Sortition or Demarchy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition

[snappyturtle]

5. Sadly, I can't disagree with either article.

I don't know why we bother with elections. I vote out of habit and hope that matters will turn around.

[hifiguy]

6. Strictly window dressing at this point.

For the last twenty-plus years the only choices have been the right and crazy-right/fascist wings of one party - The Money Party.

It's all a kabuki show until there is a real left alternative available.

[frankieallen]

8. so you do t feel our current commander and chief was

Fairly elected?
Do you think he bought the election?
I certainly dont.

[99th_Monkey]

9. Well, regardless of what we HOPEd, a lot has CHANGEd in past 7 years

see SCOTUS Citizens United, the gop clown car, who our Democratic 'presumptive' nominee is, how Obama's ramming the TPP down our collective throats, etc.

[Art_from_Ark]

11. Unless we're in the military,

he's not our "commander-in-chief".

[procon]

10. When will the oligarchs just start buying voters directly?

If they cut out the middleman, it would probably be cheaper than buying all those deceptive campaign ads if the 1 percenters just sent money straight to the voters. Also, it would end the pretense that we still have a democracy. And as a bonus, the flow of money would stimulate the economy. Yessirree, direct deposit, that's the perfect solution!

[99th_Monkey]

20. Thanks for appreciating the many benefits of selling off Public Positions of Political Power

to highest bidders, as an honest way to come to terms with what really is, and abandoning any illusions that we still have a democracy.

The more i contemplate this approach, the more I see even more positive potential: just think, all that money from public office buyers could go directly to the US Treasury (as you say) and then be disbursed to the poorest & most vulnerable citizens, fund Social Security for decades longer, and pay for decent single-payer health care for all.

To hell with Trickle-down, I'm going for gush-down economics.

[procon]

21. "Gush Down"... I like it! nt

[Enthusiast]

12. Kicked and recommended!

[Jack Rabbit]

13. Why do we even bother having elections at all is a good question

Perhaps I'm just as guilty as anyone, since I voted in the last one and will vote in the next one, even though I will probably vote for a candidate (Hillary Clinton) who I believe will do more harm than good at this moment in history. She's better than any Republican who's on the horizon -- or at all visible, for that matter -- but that is as obvious a left handed compliment as there is.

It's really up to the oligarchs, as is is everything else. For them, it creates the illusion among our fellow citizens that they still have a say in what goes. When our representatives the oligarchs' stooges in Congress approve the TPP and TTIP, as they no doubt will, the last nail will be in the coffin of American democracy. Corporations will no longer be subject to American laws and we, the people, will be subject to their justice as they will have the right to bring suit to a kangaroo court where corporate shysters serve as judges; of course, we will have no right to bring suit and no reason to expect justice if we could.

There are things we can do to fight back. Among the milder ones are refuse to serve in the military, since all wars in recent history as it is have been resource war for the benefit of the new aristocracy, the industrial and financial oligarchs. We can resolve to boycott into bankruptcy any corporation that brings suit to the ISDS under the TPP for any reason. More controversial would be general strikes against corporate power and tax strikes against the government that no longer represents the interest of the people (hey, taxation without representation is still tyranny, isn't it?)

[MisterP]

15. so people can get mad if you call them window dressing

[woo me with science]

14. Why bother having elections? Because these are opportunistic corporatists.

You've got to hand it to our .1 percent. They are nothing if not forward-thinking and creative. What can you do, when you dismantle a 240-year-old representative system of government from the inside and replace it with oligarchy and even nascent fascism? What do you do with the shell of that system? The elections? The parties?

We have a *corporate oligarchy* focused on profit, so the solution should not be surprising: Don't throw away the shell, the outward trappings, of democracy. Keep it, because it's USEFUL.

1. It's USEFUL because it sustains the illusion of democracy.

2. And it's USEFUL because it's PROFITABLE.

Hence what we have seen done to our democratic process. Our presidential elections have been turned from civic exercise into vapid entertainment. From exercise in democracy into an obscene, hyped, massively profitable corporate pageant, a sports event that, as the Princeton study showed, has virtually *nothing* to do with the actual direction of policy or of governance in this country anymore. It is the illusion of democracy, in which the people's voices have no real impact.

We have TWO Superbowls in this country now. Two major, vapid, nationally hyped and advertised sporting events in which the people are urged to take a side and mindlessly cheer for their side to win. And from which the media oligarchs, the political oligarchs, and the banking oligarchs profit BILLIONS.

And the oligarchs are buying up new private islands with the profits from it all.

[99th_Monkey]

18. +10 .. yup. nt

[B2G]

16. But it wasn't dead in 2008 or 2012?

I seem to remember very large parties...

[99th_Monkey]

17. Please see

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6529026

[woo me with science]

19. K&R