A silent coup
By Libby
Speaking of redefining democracy, Frank Rich has an excellent op-ed on the subject, The Coup at Home. He connects the dots between the adoption of Bush style rhetoric by malicious dicators internationally, in this case Musharraf, but his money quote is on how our country, enabled by a complacent and complicit Congress, increasingly mimics totalitarian regimes.
It's a hell of mess folks. Our 'leaders' routinely sell us out, our media 'reports' the latest lies and atrocities as if they were normal and expected -- when they can fit it in between the breaking news of Paris Hilton and Brittany Spears -- and a population anesthitized by terminal materialism and mindless entertainment doesn't even notice.
Sometimes I really wonder what's to become of us.
Speaking of redefining democracy, Frank Rich has an excellent op-ed on the subject, The Coup at Home. He connects the dots between the adoption of Bush style rhetoric by malicious dicators internationally, in this case Musharraf, but his money quote is on how our country, enabled by a complacent and complicit Congress, increasingly mimics totalitarian regimes.
In the six years of compromising our principles since 9/11, our democracy has so steadily been defined down that it now can resemble the supposedly aspiring democracies we’ve propped up in places like Islamabad. Time has taken its toll. We’ve become inured to democracy-lite. That’s why a Mukasey can be elevated to power with bipartisan support and we barely shrug.
It's a hell of mess folks. Our 'leaders' routinely sell us out, our media 'reports' the latest lies and atrocities as if they were normal and expected -- when they can fit it in between the breaking news of Paris Hilton and Brittany Spears -- and a population anesthitized by terminal materialism and mindless entertainment doesn't even notice.
Sometimes I really wonder what's to become of us.
Labels: America, Death of Democracy
posted by Libby Spencer at 4:49 PM
2 Comments:
From Toynbee & Burke:
"The Romans had no budgetary system and thus wasted whatever resources they had available. The Roman economy was basically a, plunder economy, which was based on looting existing resources rather than producing anything new. The Empire relied on booty from conquered territories (this source of revenue ending, of course, with the end of Roman territorial expansion) or on a pattern of tax collection that drove small-scale farmers into destitution (and onto a dole that required even more exactions upon those who could not escape taxation), or into dependency upon a landed élite exempt from taxation.
The Roman Empire produced few exportable goods. Material innovation, whether through entrepreneurialism or technological advancement, all but ended long before the final dissolution of the Empire. Meanwhile the costs of military defense and the pomp of Emperors continued. Financial needs continued to increase, but the means of meeting them steadily eroded."
Yep, does make you wonder what's to become of us.
The parallels are frightening, aren't they?
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