by Eric Zuesse for the Saker Blog
On September 2nd, Pew Research — one of America’s most respected polling organizations — issued findings from their survey of 11,001 U.S. adults between July 27 and Aug. 2, 2020, regarding three important questions that are indicative of whether or not Americans believe the U.S. Government to be a democracy, or instead a dictatorship. These are those three findings:
“Elected officials face serious consequences for misconduct.” 27% Yes. (73% No.)
“Government is open and transparent.” 30% Yes. (70% No.)
“Campaign contributions do not lead to greater political influence.” 26% Yes. (74% No.)
The last-listed of those three indicates that three-quarters of the American public believe exactly the same as the existing political-science empirical studies clearly have documented to be actually the case: that America is ruled by only its wealthiest and best-connected people — that it’s an aristocracy, a one-dollar-one vote nation, instead of a one-person-one-vote nation — it’s not a democracy at all. So: that is now established as a fact in political science; it’s not merely an opinion by three quarters of the U.S. public.
However, another relevant question produced an extreme disparity between the opinions of Republicans (America’s conservatives) versus Democrats (America’s liberals) regarding whether America is a democracy, and here is that fourth question and its answers:
“Everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed.” Republicans 76% Yes. Democrats 28% Yes.
Those are diametrically opposite opinions, by the adherents to the two political Parties.
So, on that one question, America’s conservatives do consider America to be a democracy, regarding at least the factor of whether or not all Americans have equal opportunity. This question is relevant to democracy because if everyone has equal opportunity, then there is equality on at least that single matter of equality — equality of opportunity — which cannot even possibly exist in a dictatorship, because a dictatorship has dictators, who, obviously (by definition), possess enormously more opportunity than do the rest of the population. So, whereas Republicans think that America is a democracy on at least that factor (equal opportunity), Democrats equally strongly believe that it’s not.
There was also one other question on which a strong contrast existed between Republicans and Democrats, though not diametrically opposite views, and here is that fifth question, and its answers:
“The fundamental design and structure of American government need significant changes.” Republicans 50% Yes. Democrats 79% Yes.
How should these opinion-differences by Party (ideology) be interpreted?
Whereas Democrats overwhelmingly believe that America is a dictatorship, Republicans overwhelmingly believe that it is an equal-opportunity dictatorship; and half of Republicans believe (perhaps because they believe America provides equal opportunity) that (regardless of whether or not America is a dictatorship) “The fundamental design and structure of American government don’t need significant changes.” How can one make sense of that viewpoint? Perhaps Republicans believe that poor people deserve to be poor because they’re lazy and/or incompetent, and that the rich deserve to be rich because they’re hard-working and brilliant, and perhaps Democrats are more inclined to attribute the unequal outcomes (rich versus poor) to “the fundamental design and structure of the American government.” The views of Democrats on these matters are entirely consistent with the view that America is a dictatorship, but the views of Republicans are not.
Republicans overwhelmingly believe that America is an equal-opportunity society, and half of Republicans believe that the fundamental design and structure of the American government don’t need any significant changes. Both of those viewpoints are accepting America as it is, which means that they are blaming the poor — instead of blaming “the fundamental design and structure of American government” (such as that America is being ruled by the rich) — for the poverty of the poor. Consequently, at least half of Republicans (the ones who don’t believe that America needs structural changes) believe in the rightfulness of an aristocracy — they believe that the wealthiest should rule, the public should not. Those Republicans want to be ruled by the rich, instead of ruled by the majority of the public. They are, at the very least, ambivalent about (if not outright hostile toward) democracy.
One of the ways that Republicans might get around this problem in their viewpoint is by assuming that there is no Deep State, no unelected and totally unaccountable power behind the elected rulers, other than some amorphous governmental bureaucracy, career civil-service professionals, nothing which is outside and above that, such as the aristocracy of billionaires who select which politicians’ careers to fund, and which ones not to fund. According to this conservative viewpoint, all the deficiencies in the government come from the career bureaucracy, none come from the corruption that allows the richest to buy the winning politicians and the major newsmedia, and the think tanks, etcetera. In those people’s imaginings, the controlling power is inside the government, not outside, and above, it.
There is a good ten-minute Republican-Party propaganda video which displays that viewpoint, by mocking the hypocrisy of a leading congressional Democrat, regarding democracy. This video excludes any raising of the crucial question: “Whose interests (other than the politician’s own) is that politician actually serving?” By not asking that question, the ignoring of logical inconsistencies within one’s own political opinions is not only easy to do, but it is quite natural to do. Apparently, conservatives, far more than liberals, think this way: they don’t examine to find out whom the beneficiaries of the politician’s decisions are. It’s a way that accepts corruption. It doesn’t even wonder how corruption works. It doesn’t seek to understand.
That’s the problem with the conservative side. The problem with the liberal side is its hypocrisy, which that video is mocking. Maybe the reason for the hypocrisy of liberals is that they sort-of are opposed to corruption, whereas conservatives are entirely devoted to the free market, which allows corruption, since to do otherwise is to support policies against corruption, which policies would prohibit certain types of mutually voluntary agreements, and would specifically penalize agreements that are corrupt. Thus, Republicans oppose government regulations, whereas Democrats support government regulations.
By accepting corruption (as conservatives do, since they are devoted to the free market), a person accepts one-dollar-one-vote government, and rejects one-person-one-vote government — one accepts a dictatorship by wealth, and rejects a democracy by the people: by the nation’s residents. So: this difference in support for the aristocracy — the holders of the vast majority of the nation’s wealth — might explain the differences between Republicans and Democrats.
Here are previous studies that have been done on whether America is a democracy or instead a dictatorship. First is an international comparison that enables these recent findings by Pew to be viewed in an international comparative context:
On June 15th, a NATO-backed study was published, “Democracy Perception Index – 2020”. As I summarized it on July 3rd under the headline “Countries Ranked on ‘Democracy’ in 2020”:
Here are the findings, and the rankings:
% saying yes to ‘My country is democratic’
(ranks shown are out of the 53 countries that were surveyed):
78% Taiwan #1
77% Denmark #2
75% Switzerland #3
75% S. Korea #4
73% China #5
73% Austria #6
71% Vietnam #7
71% India #8
71% Norway #9
69% Argentina #10
69% Sweden #11
67% Germany #12
66% Netherlands #13
65% Philippines #14
65% Portugal #15
64% Canada #16
63% Singapore #17
61% Malaysia #18
61% Greece #19
60% Ireland #20
59% Israel #21
57% Indonesia #22
56% Spain #23
56% Australia #24
56% UK #25
56% Turkey #26
55% Belgium #27
55% Peru #28
54% South Africa #29
54% Romania #30
54% Italy #31
53% Saudi Arabia #32
53% Pakistan #33
52% France #34
52% Mexico #35
51% Brazil #36
49% Kenya #37
48% U.S. #38
46% Japan #39
46% Colombia #40
45% Thailand #41
45% Algeria #42
43% Nigeria #43
42% Chile #44
41% Egypt #45
40% Morocco #46
40% Ukraine #47
39% Russia #48
38% Poland #49
37% Hong Kong #50
36% Hungary #51
28% Iran #52
24% Venezuela #53
(NATO did not publicize those rankings, nor even the scores.)
Perhaps the two most reliable statistical scores which tend to indicate the extent to which a given country is a dictatorship is its imprisonment-rate: the percentage of its residents who are in prison. Right now, the U.S. has the world’s highest percentage of its residents who are imprisoned. This indicates either that it has the worst people or that it has the worst laws, or both, but it also provides overwhelming solid empirical evidence that “The fundamental design and structure of American government need significant changes.” Consequently, the 79% of Democrats, and the 50% of Republicans, who agree with that proposition are certainly correct, because the world-record-high imprisonment-rate proves it. It’s not consistent with the opinion that “The fundamental design and structure of American government don’t need significant changes.”
Furthermore: since America’s prisoners are overwhelmingly the nation’s least wealthy, and since America’s wealthiest are virtually (if not totally) impossible to imprison regardless of how many people they might have defrauded — or else even murdered by promoting and selling toxic and dangerous products, sometimes even more toxic than toxic collateralized mortgage obligations — these facts are further evidence that “The fundamental design and structure of American government need significant changes” is true, and that “Everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed” is false. So, a consistent picture is emerging, which is consistent with the political-science findings that the U.S. is, in fact, a dictatorship (by its wealthiest).
However, this does not necessarily mean that any single one of those indicators is reliable, on its own, as an indicator of whether or not the given nation is a dictatorship. Everything should be viewed within its broader context.
One question that deepens this context is whether or not there has been some stability in America’s being at the top of the imprisonment heap. The earliest web-archived version of comparative international imprisonment-rates was this one on 20 March 2009, and the nation which, at that time, was shown to have the highest imprisonment-rate was the United States. So, from at least that time to this time, America has had the world’s highest imprisonment-rate. If that’s not a dictatorship, then what is? But, of course, the political-science empirical studies already show that the U.S. is a dictatorship. So, can can there even be a debate about it?
This means that any ‘news’ report that refers to America as being a “democracy” is demonstrably and clearly false.
Yet another indicator that the U.S. is a dictatorship is that it now is spending approximately half of the entire world’s military expenditures. It’s not only the most police-state, it is the most militarized nation — not necessarily in terms of having the world’s highest numbers of soldiers, but definitely in terms of having the world’s highest military expenditures (especially on weapons). So: it’s an international dictatorship.
On 17 June 2014, I headlined “Why Does NATO Still Exist?” and was (so far as I have been able to find) the first person publicly to refer to the “U.S. Regime” (other than as being part of an adjective in the many online references to “U.S. regime change” operations). In that article, I used the phrase “U.S. regime”, for the first time, directly as a noun, in the phrase, “The U.S. regime can say …”. More than five years later, on 10 November 2019, I headlined “Why does no other writer refer to ‘the U.S. regime’?” Instead, ‘news’ reports still are referring to such fantasies as “American democracy” and “the U.S. and other democracies.” However, recent evidence indicates that a majority of the American public have figured this hoax out for themselves, no thanks to America’s (or the rest of the world’s) ‘news’ media. People are learning, perhaps from their own personal experiences. Anyway, that’s what it is: it is the U.S. regime (or “the American regime”). That is today’s reality.
—————
Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.
I was always saying that USA has nothing in common with any democracy, it is Orwellian totalitarian society.
Western media … I needed less than 7 days life in the West and following western media to realize that all main western media are orchestrated from one center.
Western fairy tales about democracy and human rights … West is evil empire … the most evil in the history of humanity
Bosnian Croat
“Why Does NATO Still Exist ? “. Answer: Because it is the Praetorian Guard of private bankers who created the US and EU. The US was never intended to be a “democracy”. The actual word is not used in the Declaration of Independence. The Rothschild’s financed and controlled George Washington in 1776 and it was they who created the Federal Reserve Bank in 1913, which is a private bank with the word “Federal” intentionally thrown in to fool the masses. As for the Republicans and Democrats, maybe somebody should explain what the real difference between them is. Back in 2014 when the US introduced sanctions against Russia, 99 % of all congressmen and senators voted, like obedient parrots, for their introduction. As one analyst stated, the two US political parties are two hands controlled by the same head. They are basically used for entertainment purposes, to create the illusion that America is a democracy. And the status of the US President ? Basically an actor who does as told. Any disobedience and the actor is put away, like JFK. Historians are not sure how many US presidents were really assassinated.
Switzerland is a democracy.
In 2010, we voted to send back criminal immigrants. The people voted “yes” and it was never implemented.
In 2014, we voted to limit immigration. People voted “yes” and it was never implemented. Now it’s 2020 and we’re voting again for the same thing, but this time the “no” will pass, the media will make sure of this through massive propaganda and lies.
What we need is a good, loving dictator that cares about his own country. Democracy is just a way to divert responsibility (because the culprit is always the people) while an “invisible” ruling elite decides for its own benefit. The democratic Switzerland will continue degrading itself until it becomes a shit hole.
But hey, democracy!
It is only “Democracy” when it follow “Their” interests… Otherwise it is not.
“They” being you know who…
The Swiss need to have a directly democratic right to expell any elected official through referendum, and then hold another election, with the expelled individual not being allowed to hold office for x years.
that way, they would vote with the people.. more often!
At least you do have Citizens Initiated Referenda, which no-one else does.
Switzerland political system has a democratic façade with minor elements of a pseudo-Democracy (referendums etc), but it is not a real democracy
Citizen referendums is slightly better than what happens in other countries (where there is even less citizen involvement & decision making)
But referendums are not a policy of a true democracy (based on how the ancient Athenian democracy used to function)
Even in Switzerland, the political class does not enforce referendums if the decisions are against the will of the elites
As Aristotle pointed out long ago, the mark of a democracy is selection by lot of the government, nobody to serve for longer than a year.
Strangely enough, the lowest positions on this ‘unbiased’ poll are all occupied by countries on the AngloZionist hit list. This is a constant pattern over this type of poll, irrespective of the question.
@Anon (the one who wrote): “lowest positions on this ‘unbiased’ poll are all countries on the AngloZionist hit list.”
Not strange, from Eric’s first para: “Pew Research — one of the U$A’s most respected polling organizations”
Erik, the Democracy Perception Index you refer to lists Saudi Arabia as #32 with 53% of its citizens declaring that the country is “democratic”, just a little higher than the 48% of Americans. Might this be just a little skewed, being as how in a true “dictatorship” like the KSA, claiming such might lead to one’s head being separated from one’s body? Perception is more than a matter of opinion, it’s about being able to express that opinion, freely without coercion or retribution.
I suppose you didn’t notice that this article included the following paragraph:
“However, this does not necessarily mean that any single one of those indicators is reliable, on its own, as an indicator of whether or not the given nation is a dictatorship. Everything should be viewed within its broader context.”
Thank you so much for actually replying to me. What is the “broader context” that you refer to? We’re stuck in a conundrum here in the USA, whether to vote for a senile old fool or a psychopath. Trump already says that he won’t abide by the results of the November election. He’s turned the USA into a seething cauldron of unrest and dissension. It’s like Germany in 1933 all over again. What do you suppose is going to happen next, Eric?
And thank you for asking, because your initial comment caused me to to think I should go one sentence further with that paragraph, and said
“Everything should be viewed within its broader context. I previously did this — provided a much broader context — under the headline “Which Is the Most Totalitarian Country?””
So, here’s the URL of that article: https://theduran.com/which-is-the-most-totalitarian-country/ and I have now added that sentence to the article, and it will be in the article when I distribute the article to other media tomorrow.
Thank you for your prompt reply. The “broader context” you refer to seems to be changing weekly here in the USA. We’re in the midst of a plandemic-induced total reset of our economy with massive unemployment and poor access to health care afflicting the working class. Already, there’s contrived unrest spilling out into the streets of our major cities. What will happen in the coming months is anyone’s guess. Like I said, it’s much like what happened in Germany in 1933.
You leftists really do enjoy your theatrical exaggerations. The Globalist’s behavioral scientists have done a damn good job at improving ways to spread propaganda and program the weak-minded fools out there.
It’s amazing how much hate people like you have for someone who had the balls to go against the establishment and fight for our country and the average American citizen. A man who did more for this country in just four years, than any president in history but you wouldn’t know anything about that, because the media made damn sure to either downplay or not report on his accomplishments. All he wanted to do was make this country strong again, to remind people that we are a country founded on, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” of “Equality and justice for all” but you self-righteous fools just wouldn’t have it. It’s almost as if you loved to hate him. The media accused him of being and doing EVERYTHING the left actually is and are doing. It’s a phenomenal piece of gaslighting and it’s worked brilliantly on the leftist herd.
Let me fill you in on some facts. There are only a few Democrats and Conservatives left in their parties and unfortunately, they don’t have any of the power the establishment has. They are the minority. Globalists control both parties. The leftists are just useful idiots whose value lies in their ability to control their “activists” who enjoy being allowed to destroy communities, terrify and bully citizens, get away with acts of violence, especially the murders of cops and innocent people. Of course, the anarchists are proving more difficult to control. It seems they are having a harder time putting them back on their leashes than they thought they would have.
Trump obeyed the constitution and federal laws even when it would have been easier to ignore it as others have. He did everything he could to protect the constitution and enforce the law and in return, he was called a dictator when he did NOTHING to justify the label. Four years of enduring a smear campaign meant to demean, humiliate, vilify and destroy him, his family, and anyone who showed him any respect or support. He took all of this heinous abuse without taking a damn paycheck and by the time he left office, his business had lost millions. He didn’t leave with more money than he came in with like EVERY president before him. Hell, Obama bought himself a 12million dollar estate on the water. Odd choice for someone who rallied behind the Climate Change narrative of doom and destruction.
As to the November election, it was an overt act of fraud and no one will be held accountable for it. That was obvious when the FBI refused to investigate despite having more than enough evidence and SCOTUS refused to do their CONSTITUTIONAL duty and hear the grievances by the states. They had idiots like you accusing him of being a threat to “Democracy” because he dared to utilize his CONSTITUTIONAL right to have the election results audited and the inconsistencies investigated.
By the way, WE ARE NOT A DEMOCRACY or as they are teaching our kids in over 40 states, a Constitutional Democracy in which the majority rule over the minority. We ARE a Constitutional Republic and it is the left who is a THREAT to our UNION and our REPUBLIC. They are revising and omitting history to push hateful rhetoric against our country, capitalism, and their political opposition. They are requiring the BLM curriculum be taught to our children which is meant to deepen division among Americans and teach our children to be racist and bigoted. The left is also continuing to campaign for the abolishment of our constitution. What’s worse is politicians who took an oath to obey and protect the constitution are supporting this overt act of treason against, “We the People”. They want the government to have complete power and control over our country and over us. Trump wasn’t who you should have been afraid of, it was the establishment on the right and left who spit on their oath to obey and protect the constitution.
Many who support the left have never read the Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, or even their own Bill of Rights. So, it’s important for me to point out that our constitution grants sovereignty over this country to the people and the Globalists want to take that from us. While we were going about our daily lives working and paying the bills, we didn’t pay attention to what the people we elected to represent us were doing to our nation. They gave away our sovereignty to the globalists who sold our country to China piece by piece and Trump took it back. Unfortunately, he was against the wealthiest and most powerful people in this country and across the world. When he took office, our dirty politicians abused their power and tried to oust him from office with the help of our corrupt federal law enforcement agencies and the judicial branch. That’s not a conspiracy theory, that’s a fact. None of them will be held accountable for what they have done and continue to do.
Anyway, they got what they wanted in the end. They made sure of that.
Trump is NOT a psychopath. All the people who are openly pushing hate and division while using lies and violence to get their way are the actual power-hungry narcissists and psychopaths you should fear. As to Germany 1933, yes the left has succeeded in dehumanizing their political opposition, Trump, his supporters, and conservatives in general, just as Hitler did the Jews. Their herd actually dances with glee at the thought of our annihilation and likes to talk about “deprogramming us”. “Deprogramming” is just another term for breaking our will and getting us to bend the knee to them. Kids and young adults shun and shame family members who support Trump or disagree with their idealogy. Hell, two months before the riot a kid called the FBI and informed on his dad. He told them about his plan to protest at the Capitol and said he was afraid of what his dad might do. Why? Something happened between him and his father and his father refused to continue paying his college bills for him. That’s okay when the FBI came for his dad after the riot and arrested him, he bragged about what he did, put up a GoFundme, and took in, last I heard, about 20,000 towards his college “debt”. Another kid on Reddit told people his Trump-supporting dad finally died and he made a point not to bury him the way he wanted. He went out of his way to show utter disrespect and hate towards his late father’s remains. That story isn’t verified but considering all the hate leftists have for Trump and his supporters, it’s very believable. Most Trump supporters are afraid of showing their support for him or even admitting their conservative for fear of being attacked or getting killed and yet the left continues to gaslight their herd who are convinced they aren’t the violent, dangerous cult of fanatics, it’s the right. They say this even as their doxing someone and calling for the death of a Trump supporter and their family. That’s how mind-fucked you people are.
Question 1: “What services do I want from government?”
Question 2: “Am I willing to pay for it?”
Question 3: “What if what I want is in conflict with what other people want; how is it resolved?”
Some citizens want the government to provide for nearly every societal need such as: (1) public transportation, (2) public education, (3) healthcare, (4) financial assistance, (5) affordable housing, (6) employment opportunity, (7) human rights, (8) animal rights.
Other people want fewer government services, like: (1) provide for the national defense, (2) fair and impartial judicial court system, (3) professional criminal law enforcement, (4) protection of environmental water, soil and air, (5) weather related disaster relief.
Typically the answer to question 3 falls under the political concept of majority rule, where either the citizens themselves vote for or against (as in a direct democracy or referendum) or elected representatives decide on the electorate’s behalf.
The primary function of “representation” requires the incumbent to solicit their constituency’s opinion on matters of importance such as expenditures of money and then support the majority position in legislation.
But the system has been corrupted with the federal court’s decision that corporations are “legal persons”, which has allowed them to offer financial bribes (i.e., “campaign contributions”) to sway the easily malleable career politician to draft legislation that favors them. Wall Street financial institutions including commercial and investment banks are the primary focus of Washington, DC’s economic policies. This phenomena is followed by the war industrial complex and international lobbyists who have a one-world government agenda.
The American people’s democracy has disappeared and been replaced by global corporatism. It will continue growing in power until the citizenry stops giving this failed political manipulation of suffrage the credibility and legitimacy it does not deserve.
Its actually neither, its a confederation, a division of states against themselves a majority of the time with a minority glue to hold the whole wall up, as humpty peers over the wall and considers sitting.
Very much so Alabama. My own quote: ‘I knew who my enemy was when I saw the new American dream. I drove past third world decrepit cities, masses of ragged people with no homes, dispossed and dying off in the broken streets. What does this say about the ‘greatest, fantastic, most incredible’ country ‘ever’ as Mr. Trump would have everyone believe? Perhaps that in itself is the humor as it is intrinsically without subtlety or intelligence. Something a clown might say when referring to his circus’.
My short video considering these matters. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTmaxC_9HT0
I enjoyed those 2 minutes Hr Hagan, so i glanced @ your channel again.
This video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKwofXANYWU messed with my head i admit, such beautiful music and such horrible humans in the images.
True Per/Norway. It is not a plesant situation and one that I needed to explore for at least preventing such an operation happening again, particularly whith so many high profile characters.
Cheers,
John
This article sums up the state of the US. The Presidency, House of representatives and the Senate are populated primarily with millionaires who, for the most part, pass legislation for multi-millionaires promoted by their lobbyist, which the President rarely vetoes. I am amazed a quarter of Americans can still believe they live in a Democracy. They may claim they vote for their President and Congress, but they fail to realize the candidates are chosen for them giving the aristocracy a win-win result. The following quote more or less sums up the American System:
“When you’re born into this world, you’re born into the freak show. And when you’re born into the United States you’ve got a front row seat!” – George Carlin
Boris Johnson proposed Wednesday that we (UK) need to move towards a society where everyone is assumed to be covid positive until they test negative (every day), at whcih point they will be allowed to enter normal society.
If that is not a way-off-thecharts definition of dictatorship, I don’t know what is.
The swab tests for Covid-19 just determine whether or not you have antibodies in your bloodstream, whether you have symptoms of the disease or not. However, if you have antibodies present, it tells you that your immune system has kicked into action, and is fighting or has fought the infection off and you do not therefore need the vaccine, which in the case of the US is just another money making scam by the pharmaceutical industry, who spend more on TV advertising than they do on medical research.
Testing is just another political ploy to subject the population to authoritarian control. For exampleThe World Bank promised loans to Belarus on the condition that lockdowns be imposed on the population.
Mr. Zuesse: You miss one factor in your analysis of the Republicans i.e. their religiosity. They believe that a good man can ” drain the swamp” and bring back holiness to the city on the hill. Ok. they argue, no system is perfect, nor is any man perfect but a good man does strive for perfection knowing that he will inevitably fall short.
Once you factor in the belief system i.e. that there are “good” people won’t be corrupted. ( Ron Paul, Rand Paul ?) and if there is enough of them, order and goodness can be restored. Also,these are people who have intact families unlike most people in prison.
This is not sociological, it is not academic, it is faith based and it is logical within that schema. Mr. Zuesse, you just impose your parameters and then, rightfully, are puzzled. I have a brother with a pHD in sociology who rabidly drinks The Atlantic mag/rag Koolaide, but I live among the Republican faithful. Will they be disillusioned? Well, it is end-times after all. ( shrug of shoulders). Oh well.
When did Donald Trump ever sacrifice his self-interest for the public? Certainly he is shameless, even bold about his psychopathy; so, what type of ‘religious’ person would support him? Of course, only people of faith support him, but that’s faith in what? How is Donald Trump a virtuous man as some religion’s Scripture defines it? Joe Biden hides his evilness, but Trump is sometimes flaunting it. The Christian evangelical infatuation with Trump is pure manipulation of a gullible population. Like Trump has said, he could shoot someone of 5th Avenue and he would lose supporters.
“39% Russia #48”
This alone makes that entire listing garbage I’m afraid.
I suppose you didn’t notice that this article included the following paragraph:
“However, this does not necessarily mean that any single one of those indicators is reliable, on its own, as an indicator of whether or not the given nation is a dictatorship. Everything should be viewed within its broader context.”
The same America that manipulates and weaponizes … my bad … selflessly crusades for democracy and human rights around the world itself ain’t a democracy, and indeed this same America routinely rapes the human rights of its own citizens, as evidenced by the epidemic of police brutality and state-sponsored repression throughout the Land of the Free.
American “democracy” is an enormous Civilizational Deception, a Nazi-style Big Lie that would make Joseph Goebbels envious.
And it is a lie that Americans of all political factions (Progressives or Conservatives alike) promote because they are all cult believers in American Moral Imperialism and superiority over the entire world.
The self-styled Leader of the Free World™ is however in reality a leader in deception (not to mention Covid-19 fatalities).
The US Has Long Led the Assault on Human Rights
https://www.blackagendareport.com/us-has-long-led-assault-human-rights
This might be killing rabbits (splitting hares (hairs)) but the US has never technically been a democracy. Republic’s by their very nature have always been ruled by elites, hence more of a ‘Collective Dictatorship’.
False: there is no contradiction between “a republic” and “a democracy.” In fact, our Founders were aiming to produce a “democratic republic.”
Eric,
I usually find our viewpoints on history are pretty much aligned, but on this one we must disagree. Pure democracy means the people vote on all policy, representational democracy is a bit more difficult to define but in general the people elect a representative to carry their voice and represent their needs. What the USA has is neither of these. In the US the parasitic class gives the people the appearance of a choice while fielding candidates from the different parties with the same policies. Ergo my comment that the USA is an elected ‘collective dictatorship’ where the collective is a small and very select group.
The reason why Norway ranks high is because the brainwashing is more successful here.
I like the article but I don’t think it proves that one person rules the USA. What you describe it better characterized as an authoritarian plutocratic kleptocracy exercising it’s power through the deep state. Donald Trump doesn’t really do anything that Jack Pence doesn’t approve … as always, it’s the deep state representing the 1% while they pretend to represent the rest of us.
Despite the fact that there’s a lot of democratic philosophy surrounding the founding of the US, it’s always been bullshit: We’re a republic, just like Rome and, just like Rome, “we” don’t actually give a shit about the peons. Oh yeah, and the barbarians are at the gates..
Thank you for the thought provoking article.
This article doesn’t assert “that one person rules the USA.” America is a collective dictatorship, of the 330 million population, by its 700 billionaires. In other words: it’s an aristocracy, instead of a democracy. See: http://archive.is/eZh9N
Republic is not the same as a democracy
Why the terms have been mixed up so badly, is another discussion
In reality, no country in the world has a democratic system of governance. And most countries recognise this as they are declared as a “republic” in their official names.
As for USA, it is a republic & not a democracy
The founding fathers made it very clear that
the USA is a republic. USA political system resembles Roman Republic, not Athenian democracy
If the USA was a democracy, then citizens will assemble, & directly decide, debate , propose & vote for all laws of their respective cities & their state
Democracy is a system of governance based on the democracy of the city state of Ancient Athens. To understand what this democracy is, read the “constitution of Athenians”. It is a complex system & with various political processes
Democracy requires direct & active political participation & decision making of the citizens to decide about the affairs, laws, policies, actions etc of the State
What we have now is completely opposite & different . We have oligarchies with republican style institutions. We have presidents who have powers of an elected monarch. People have no say besides voting every 4 years in elections that are not very “democratic”
Other countries have retained the title of kingdom or monarchy, but there is little difference. UK monarchy’s political system is very similar to French republic. People have no say besides voting every 4 years
Also the terms direct democracy , people’s democracy, & representative democracy are all false & bogus terms. Democracy is democracy, there are no special kinds of democracies
Of course, other states could be more authoritarian, other more liberal. But more or less civil liberties does not mean that the governmental system is a “democracy”
No country is democratic no matter what state propaganda claims, no matter what are citizen’s perceptions
Voting every 3 or 4 years does not equal to being a democracy.
That propaganda mantra that “America is a Republic” is yet another political deception.
America is neither a Republic or Democracy.
Americans are a nation who were spawned by Founding Oligarchs, slaveowners, and ethnic cleansers like George Washington. They have NO moral claim to be a republic, democracy, or Beacon of Liberty.
The self-styled Leader of the Free World, United States of America, is in actuality a world dictatorship.
Americans have appointed themselves the moral judge and jury of the entire planet.
Politically, America thinks that it has a Allah-given right to “regime change” and overthrow the governments of countries under the pretext of promoting democracy and freedom.
Economically, America routinely rapes the world through US Dollar Imperialism, its predatory brand of capitalism called the Washington Consensus, and economic sanctions up the ass.
Militarily, America bombs or invades multiple nations around the planet based upon Goebbelsian lies like “Weapons of Mass Destruction,” the bogus War on Terrorism, or defending its Rules-Based Imperial Order.
Ideologically, Americans are a crusader people who have deluded themselves that they have a Manifest Destiny to proselytize its sick gospel of the American Way of Life to all the “backward heathens” of the world.
This is the behavior not of a democracy or a republic.
Rather, this is the behavior of a genocidal American Empire that has far surpassed the Nazi Third Reich in its aggressive ambitions and crimes against humanity.
Two decades of US “war on terror” responsible for displacing at least 37 million people and killing up to 12 million
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/09/09/cost-s09.html?view=print
i’ve been having opinion letters published locally for since 911 and frequently refer to ‘our’ government as the american regime. its a corrupt criminal organization.
“its (it IS) a corrupt criminal organization”
True, Craig!
HOWEVER: Since you bring up 9/11 and today is the 19th anniversary of that extreme False Flag designed to perpetuate “a corrupt criminal organization” which has wrestled for control of the US…….(and EVERY major western nation, as well, mind you!…) since its inception, with great success over the last 119 years (the assassination of McKinley being a useful Time Divide between being “more republic in spirit and reality” to being “more Empire”)……………
………..I suggest it is time to get out of the academic impotence of the indicative case…..and consider operating in the Subjunctive Case…where all creativity and morality and remedies for improvement reside/abide…………..instead.
What SHOULD be done about it??
What COULD be done about it??
WOULD you like to be an agent of change, as an American and COULD you possibly even try to get a non-American to comprehend an effort to “retire” The Empire…and “restore” the republic or is it more “comfortable” to join them in:
1) Painting the US and ALL of its people with ONE Imperialist Brush..as very many love to do…falling immediately into a most obvious empire trap………congratulating oneself that one is far better than ALL of them Deplorable Pindos…, even if you are American..but declaring your republican (anti-Empire…..and anti-RINO!!!) cause “hopeless”.or
2) Recognize that there are indeed many, many Americans who are fighting The Empire far, far, harder than most foreign victims of American Brawn Captured To Serve AZ Empire Brains……..and encourage THAT process, rather than deluding oneself that there is NOTHING here to work with???
from yesterday’s LPAC Lead:
https://larouchepac.com/20200910/how-can-present-insurrection-against-presidency-be-stopped-larouchepac-fireside-chat
“J. Kurt Wiebe and Bill Binney walked out of the NSA after September 11, 2001 knowing that the surveillance tool they had invented could have prevented that mass murder and preserved the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It had been shelved by private intelligence community contractors and an NSA intent on profits and, upon creating a total surveillance state. Tonight, and continuing, they will discuss what must be done now to stop the coup against the presidency.”
Hmmmm: “what MUST be done”.
1) The Indicative Case to take stock of the present condition and study what past events led to it.
2) The Subjunctive Case to employ the imagination and creativity to even remotely muster the optimism, resolve and courage to persist in any determination to change the bad present for a better future.
3) The Imperative Case………………..TO ACT!
An excerpted description from the above link………….. of couple of notable guys that have acted and probably will continue to act as long as they live, addressing many hundreds of activists @ that FF Anniversary:
“J. Kurt Wiebe and Bill Binney walked out of the NSA after September 11, 2001 knowing that the surveillance tool they had invented could have prevented that mass murder and preserved the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It had been shelved by private intelligence community contractors and an NSA intent on profits and, upon creating a total surveillance state. Tonight, and continuing, they will discuss what must be done now to stop the coup against the presidency.”
And there are many, many more like Kurt and Bill (or, much less prominently like you, craig dudley or I…that KNEW…with the impact of the second tower what was happening 19 years ago………..) that did not respond TOO long in being “shaken up” by that Occult Ritual Sacrifice & Mass Brainwashing & Sheep Herding Through Fear …that Magical ILLUSION Mass Murder Stunt and pondered HOW to judo its evil intent...to have it backfire and instead use it AND subsequent events in the necessary “waking up” of the Rip Van Winkle “Muricans”…that just like the nearly dead asleep sheeple almost everwhere else…that .have been in a goddamned idiotic, moronic, brainwashed and impotent TRANCE…for the most part (but not 100%) their entire lives.
THERE is the true battleground of Good vs Evil…….in The Mind…….and spirit, of course….and not, for that “matter” …..so much in any patches of real estate or “borders”…anywhere.
Progress may seem “too slow” but it exists…..albeit in messy and very imperfect form…AND .is accelerating ..AND improving………IMHO.
SO: No time to throw in the towel…or stay stuck….in the Indicative Case…..The Case….(or Language) of Inaction.
Cheers!
Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens
“Each of 4 theoretical traditions in the study of American politics — which can be characterized as theories of:
– Majoritarian Electoral Democracy,
– Economic-Elite Domination,
and 2 types of interest-group pluralism:
– Majoritarian Pluralism and
– Biased Pluralism
offers different predictions about which sets of actors have how much influence over public policy: average citizens; economic elites; and organized interest groups, mass-based or business-oriented.
A great deal of empirical research speaks to the policy influence of one or another set of actors, but until recently it has not been possible to test these contrasting theoretical predictions against each other within a single statistical model. We report on an effort to do so, using a unique data set that includes measures of the key variables for 1,779 policy issues.
Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. The results provide substantial support for theories of Economic-Elite Domination and for theories of Biased Pluralism, but not for theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy or Majoritarian Pluralism.”
https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mgilens/files/gilens_and_page_2014_-testing_theories_of_american_politics.doc.pdf
USA is an oligarchic dictatorial corporatist political system. Government positions are occupied by elites (and lackeys of the elites). Multinational corporations & banking conglomerates are directly or indirectly promoting / funding presidential & senatorial candidates. These candidates in return are subservient to their patrons…..
Public positions are bought by money & serve the interests of big money.
People may vote in elections but they have no say in political decisions. Elections are an illusion to legitimize the system.
But the oligarchic dictatorial nature of American political system is not specific to USA.
Every other country in the world has a similar (or more) authoritarian political system even though there are quirks, local differences, distinct characteristics
One major difference was the level of civil liberties & freedom of speech. Some countries are way more repressive and authoritarian than others.
But in the age of COVID, we have draconian authoritarian or totalitarian measures in the so called “liberal” West that are similar to North Korea, China or other dictatorial regimes.
“Everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed”
Unbelievable! Just how brainwashed you must be to actually believe that!
Disparity is an essential paradigm in the western systems. It’s so blatant, so clear that it becomes ridiculous.
I have to say that 50% odd of the British people are deluded if they genuinely believe that the UK is a ‘democracy’.
1. We have a grossly distortional electoral system, whereby an amplifier effect in a few key ‘swing seats’ determines who is elected. Greater than 80% of the electorate have votes which do not matter, because one party has a rock-solid majority where they vote. That cannot be democracy, it is non-negotiable it cannot be democracy, because 80% of people have zero influence on who is elected. 80% of MPs need to be pretty much paedophiles, fraudsters, murderers or caught engaging in bestiality if they wish to lose their seat. Labour or Conservative is irrelevant. They have a job for life as long as they do not rock the internal boat.
2. Almost all our media is owned by tax-avoiding billionaires, one of whom is a foreigner who pays no tax in the UK. What are non-taxpayers doing allowed to control political thought processes? In any democracy, only taxpayers should be allowed to influence public life. Tax avoidance should be for those limited solely to private sector business not requiring schmoozing with politicians.
3. The one media organisation actually nominally ‘owned’ by Uk voters (they are forced to pay a $200 poll tax to buy a TV license every year which funds the BBC) shows total contempt to UK citizens and has become a globalist, woke, self-righteous bunch of bullshitting, lying, propagandising pipsqueaks who are totally accepting of global genocide as long as it is the UK and the USA committing it. They completely ignore their charter requirements for ‘impartiality’ across vast swathes of topics including Covid19, climate change, the EU and much, much more. Do they care? No. The complaints department was outsourced to a notorious operator called Capita, which means the BBC can ignore every single complaint no matter how justified. It is a global disgrace.
4. We have politicians who always put UK electors last if global masters crack the whip. Everything they are doing with regard to Covid19 promotes the complete trashing of vast areas of the UK economy. They are doing it under orders from foreigners, none of whom pay taxes in the UK. They should not be taking orders from any of them.
5. The Civil Service has been in open revolt ever since the Brexit vote. The most senior unelected appointees have been operating shamelessly to undermine the most democratic mandate ever achieved in the UK. They seek to undermine elected officials who do not toe the Civil Service/Brussels line. A number of them should be imprisoned or worse for what they have done and continue to do….
So what people feel and what the reality is are often very different in nature.
And after the ‘Coronavirus Act’, our equivalent of your Patriot Act, all pretence of democracy has gone.
Government by edict now exists, the primary criterion to demonstrate a dictatorship.