"It [the U.S.] gallantly emerged as a fragile democractic experiment over and against an oppressive British empire--and aided by the French and Dutch empires--even while harboring its own imperial visions of westward expansion, with more than 20% of its population consisting of enslaved Africans. In short, we are a nation of rebels who nonetheless re-created in our own new nation many of the oppressions we had rebelled against."I guess it's really true--history never stops repeating itself.
Saturday, November 19, 2005
a paradox
As disillusioned as I am with democracy, I still cannot help myself from reading books about the subject. (Once a political scientist, always a political scientist, I guess). Cornel West's book Democracy Matters (Winning the Fight Against Imperialism) addresses a crisis facing our country--the supremacy of wealth and power over moral principles in determining the actions of our country--and suggests the remedies for this crisis (Socratic questioning, prophetic voices, and tragicomic hope). But before he gets there, he points out a fundamental paradox in the American identity, which I find revealing.
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2 comments:
How exactly are you disillusioned?
hmmm...let me count the ways.
1. people with money have more voice than people who don't.
2. people treat their right to vote with great apathy.
3. elected officials care more about corporate interests than regular citizens.
4. elected officials care more about being reelected than actually doing good.
of course i'm speaking in generalities and don't really want to see us embrace any other form of government--i just want to see us actually aspire to more than the small-minded version of democracy we've become resigned to over the last couple decades.
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