Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Politics In General The Demise of Our System

I have long ago personally given up on the fantasy of democracy of any sort, and I keep getting proven correct.

Not only is our current political atmosphere saturated with incompetence and non-participation, but even the pretenses are so battered and far from any notion of reality.

I won't waste your time on attempting to give evidence for this assertion, and certainly if you disagree, I am open to contrary evidence.

Do you agree with this for the most part? single choice
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	Are you crazy?
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Looking back in history I wonder if things are really worse now than they were before. There was surely a lot of animosity from the start, citizens were divided about whether to revolt or remain loyal to the crown. There was gross income inequality and the Constitution was written for and by wealthy landowners. Slavery was a fact of life for the first half century of our history and then there was the Civil War...Horrible times that tore the nation apart for decades. Then the rise of the robber barons followed almost immediately by the First World War. Then the Roaring Twenties! Followed by the Great Depression which didn't wind down until the Second World War. Then Korea and Vietnam. Dick Nixon, race riots and I've barely scratched the surface of a history born in turmoil and mostly raging at a full boil since its inception.
Is it the demise of our system or just another chapter? Just business as usual in the good old USA?

I have not given up on democracy, but I do think that we are at a very low point. I can trace a lot of that back through my lifetime, but I can't talk about anything before the 60's, as I didn't live it.

There are two trends that I think led to a great deal of the current disaffection with the democratic process, and it is largely tied to the two major parties. After the Civil Rights period, the Democratic Party took essential control of the legislature for most of the 60s and 70s. Party divisions of United States Congresses. Many good things happened because of this, especially when they also had the White House, but the party became complacent until they lost the Senate in the 1980s. That complacency led to some very bad behavior. (see List of federal political scandals in the United States), but when the Republicans gained control, their behavior was much, much worse, especially during Newt Gingrich's tenure. The pattern established from Nixon (Watergate), through Reagan (Iran-Contra) to George H.W. Bush (pardons of Iran-Contra participants), and then his son (Lawyergate, e-mail controversy - which makes Hillary Clinton's errors pale by comparison) showed an escalation of impunity in abuse of office.

The second trend, also tied primarily to the Republicans, was the escalating delegitimization of the government. This started with the 60s and the civil disobedience mood, especially post-Watergate, but became a central tenet of the Republican party from Reagan forward. I thought that the election of Barack Obama might blunt, and maybe reverse, that disaffection, but it has metastasized into the TEA party, Trump, Cruz, and their ilk.

The demise of the U.S. political system (often called Democracy, a misnomer for sure) has two systemic (structural) components:

1) An economic system which promotes inequality (e.g. concentration of wealth) and as a result extends to the social realm, creating a permanent underclass that has been deprived of education and the possibility of attaining the basic necessities of life. This is agnostic to the political party in power as they both advocate the same economic/social framework.

2) Systemic racism and the continuation of a caste system (based on economic, social and racial divides, vide the religious right) that has never been attacked head on since the inception of the republic. Yes, there have been improvements (hard fought) but, given item (1) these advances have been clawed back. We find ourselves in the position of fighting for the same things (under a different name) that we fought for decades, nay, centuries ago.

Voting is the opiate of the masses. Every 4 years someone comes along and pays lip service to issues and causes that are in vogue. But little is done to address the systemic (structural) failures of the system, because the elected are being guided by the same forces in (1) - no matter what party they belong to.

I am grateful for your responses. This is the only forum I know of where a rational discussion such as this can take place.

And my point in my post above is that this has been going on from the start. From the Founding Fathers, who were the social, financial and political elite of the day, to the wealthy plantation owners of the south and the industrialists of the north prior to the Civil War. To the robber barons of the 1890s, tamped down only for a few years before the economic boom of the 1920s further enriched Americas wealthy families before the Great Depression left most Americans penniless and jobless(and most of the wealth intact). From slavery to child labor to unethical treatment of labor and a racial divide that has never been bridged. The Federal Government has always been in the pockets of the wealthy. Just as State and City governments.
Democracy today is just as ephemeral as it was from the start but probably no more so.
The Aristocracy and the bourgeoisie continue to enslave the proletariat just as they always have and always will.

Which brings me to a point I made elsewhere...
Donald Trump does not represent "change" he IS the status quo.
He is a perfect example of what we have "fought for decades, nay, centuries". He was born to wealth and will die wealthy. His bid for the presidency is nothing more than an endeavor to further enrich himself and those like him. These poor Republican fools who think otherwise will be even poorer and bigger fools should they manage to elect him.

Trump is in the top .01%, right? A wealth creator... Big Daddy Warbucks... eminently qualified to take care of the little people, as he has taken care of himself.

You know, those little people who Entrepreneur Trump steps on when building his empire, they deserve it. If they aren't tough enough to make it in business, then they need to go home to their Mommies.

I wonder just how inspirational the Trump Tax Avoidance Scheme will be to a true revolution.