America needs to study the enemy within

[applegrove]

America needs to study the enemy within

By Jared Diamond at the LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-diamond-chile-america-democracy-20141228-story.html#page=1

"SNIP.....................


So, should we worry about possible parallels between Chile in 1968 and the U.S. today? On the one hand, it seems unthinkable that the U.S. could drift into dictatorship. Like my Chilean friends then, we Americans are proud of our long democratic tradition and our political stability. We are blessed by a strong national identity and a large middle class. Our highly diversified economy, the biggest in the world, includes resource extraction (especially of oil), manufacturing, agriculture, and technological innovation. Our citizens are highly educated, and we can boast of the world's best universities. Ever since our nation's independence in 1783, we have known how to govern ourselves.

But, on the other hand, like Chileans before and under Allende, we have become stuck in political gridlock. Our citizens are split by deep disagreements about basic economic, social and political issues, including government interventions, immigration, investment in education and infrastructure, and inequality of income and opportunity. Our economy is decidedly sluggish.

Meanwhile, our politicians have been increasingly unwilling or unable to craft compromises. The most recent Congress passed fewer laws than any Congress in decades. Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill couldn't agree even on matters that should have been noncontroversial, such as funding the Federal Aviation Administration and confirming the nominations of judges and second-level government officers. And American democracy is being eroded by partisan measures aimed at preventing registration or voting by citizens likely to prefer the other party, and by massive distortion of elections by big money.

You may object that the American armed forces, unlike those in Chile or Indonesia or Spain, have no precedent at all for interfering in American politics. That's true. But consider what happened in 1933 in Austria, where private citizens had increasingly been arming themselves and forming private militias. When Austria's Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss abolished the country's legislature and established an authoritarian right-wing government, he didn't use an Austrian army to crush his left-wing political opponents. He did it with a militia of his own armed supporters.




.......................SNIP"

[olddots]

1. all too true

NT

[starroute]

2. False equivalence

The Democrats will twist themselves in knots to craft compromises. It's the Republicans who can't agree on noncontroversial matters. It's the Republicans who are trying to prevent poor people and minorities from voting. It's the Republicans who are inciting the formation of private militias.

On the other hand, my recollection is that Austrian democracy failed because one member of their parliament had a weak bladder and missed a crucial vote because nature called. (I wrote a term paper on this in high school AP world history. It's the only damn fact from the paper I still remember.) So if we remain alert and keep the Democratic congresscritters supplied with Depends, we should be safe.

[applegrove]

4. By posting this article I did not mean to imply the Democrats were

doing anything wrong. Obama has tried in many ways to reach across. The situation of a failed democracy, is a thing the GOP has worked hard to create. I posted this article because there are some similarities with those right wing coups and what the GOP is trying to do. Sometimes....an article touches on a few important things and I assume DU will take it in in the ways that seem real to us.

[JDPriestly]

3. Compromise is a nice word. But what kinds of specific compromises would Diamond make

with the gun-toters, those who want to violently take justice into their own hands.

We have a good court system. It is rather conservative, not liberal.

Congress is gridlocked reflecting the division in the country.

I do not think that discussions about compromise are helpful unless we first have public discussions about specific issues.

At this time, the liberal points of view have do not have the media coverage that conservative points of view receive.

There are not Hannity or Limbaughs of the left with sponsors for talk shows on the radio. In fact there are few if any liberal talk shows on commercial radio. How can you have compromise when the voters here almost entirely only from one side or mostly from one side in the discussion. It is amazing that there are so many liberals, so many people voting for liberal candidates at this time.

I think that Diamond's article is way off base. What we need is to hear more from various sides of the issues -- and more than just a minute given to each side to present its point of view.

Right now, what we call news is actually just silly celebrity gossip and propaganda with insufficient discussion.

And there is no left equivalent of the far-right Fox News. None at all.

When the public gets to hear both sides of the issues, we can have compromise. But until then, the right-wing is just going to move further and further toward the angry right.

It is amazing that support for liberal ideas is as strong as it is in the US. That strong support in my view is due to the fact that America is essentially a liberal country -- being dragged to the right by the fact that the oligarchy that supports the right-wing ideas owns the news media and saturates our media with right-wing points of view.

[applegrove]

5. +100