The Myth of Democracy

The Myth of Democracy:
Ferdinand Lundberg.
Democracy is the flaming watch word of the age, beloved of politicians and academics, happily claimed as a self description by virtually all governments, especially dictatorships.
Yet it exists nowhere in the sense of ‘by the people’ or ‘for the people’ though it is of ‘all the people’ as is made evident by complaints against all forms of it all over the world. If they were really governing, who are they complaining against? They feel powerless and out of control.
It does not exist anywhere in the sense implied by its devotees. In reality it is a fantasy. It is one of the secular myths. Science and scientific outlook, or just plain common sense are restricted to a relatively small number of people. Just because every government, including left and right wing dictatorships, claim to be democracies, it would be desirable to determine what democracy is supposed to be. All dictatorships, whether of the right or the left are the same, whether of the workers or the owners, they all restrict workers.
The word first appeared in 5th century Greece in Athens, and is derived from the Greek demos, meaning people and kratein, to rule, related to kratos, authority. It came into vogue to bring people to defend against Iranian invasions. By raising a Naval force, Athens was able to provide security to 200 Greek city states. It organized a Delian league of city states, membership of which was initially voluntary, but eventually became compulsory, as Athens placed garrisons over what became known as Athenian Empire. Athens imposed its own democratic structure over all the city states, which rep-laced the rule of one man, who was called a tyrant and his group of followers. Though imbued with sinister meaning, the original word tyrannos meant a chief and most of them ruled with consent of the ruled.
Under Athenian democracy, an elected assembly made all the laws. Officials were appointed through a lottery sytem. Under Pericles from 461-429 BCE, the system of paying public servants was introduced to attract people to seek office. Only free male citizens, about 43000 in number were allowed to vote. The leaders with a support from the majority in the assembly, as in current Britain, ruled. According to the Greek historian Thucydides, who was a contemporary if Pericles, the nominal democracy became a one man rule soon enough.
At the end of the 5th century BCE, Sparta and its land based allies, apprehensive of Athenian expansion and affluence, invaded and destroyed it, ending even the pretense at democracy for 2000 years.
The idea was revived in 17th century CE Britain which was in the grip of a civil war, as a highly romanticized version of the Greek democracy, and the idea of popular sovereignty emerged in Britain and was later adopted in France and the USA.
Puritans, who had fled persecution in 17th century CE England to New England in the USA, tried the concept in town meetings, which were attended by the entire male white European population, which served as the legislature, with a majority of votes passing laws and appointing officers. It was as near as it ever got to democracy for white males, though the colony itself was governed by a crown appointed governor and judges.

Chap II
By the time of the American Constitutional Convention of 1787, it was a given that democracy consisted of popular voting by white men for officers, legislators or laws and public policies. But pro-British citizens had their property seized by popular vote. That had a profound influence on the writers of the constitution, who incorporated provisions in the constitution to make such procedures virtually impossible to prevent ‘tyranny’ of the majority-James Madison.
James Madison, presumably thinking of New England colonies and Greek city States wrote in no 10 of The Federalist Papers “pure democracy is a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person…”…the US constitution…provide for a republic…government in which the scheme of representation takes place…that is no democracy…representative can, and often does, act according to his own notions…the two great points of difference between a democracy and a republic are the delegation of government…to a small number of citizens…greater number of citizens and the greater sphere of country over which the latter may be extended.
US constitution offers a republic and not a democracy. It has produced vote producing political machines beholden to vested interests and not to the public.
The problems of the convention, as its leaders saw them, were not to establish…safeguard democracy…but to bridle and subdue it…it was done in the constitution…with a view to making it…so that tyranny could not be promoted in the name of democracy (The records of the Federal convention of 1787. edited by Max Farrand.

Chap III
The constitution makers thought they had hogtied democracy, but Thomas Jefferson the author of to the Declaration of Independence, was US ambassador to France while the constitution was being written, was appointed the first secretary of state by George Washington. He felt that it did not sufficiently safeguard the rights of individuals, taken care of in the first ten amendments. He opposed the establishment of a US Bank as that would favor the money interests and corrupt the legislature. GW agreed with Alexander Hamilton, the Treasury Secretary.
Hamilton saw the country as commercial/manufacturing country, while Jefferson saw it as an agrarian society. Opponents of Hamilton gathered behind Jefferson and called themselves republicans. Jefferson and many of his followers were sympathetic to the French revolution. Hamilton favored England, for national financial reasons.
Jefferson, supported by the Republicans for president ran second to John Adams, became vice president. Republicans rallied behind him to oppose the repressive alien and Sedition laws of John Adams. Joined by Madison, he also stood for states rights.
Elected president in 1800, under the banner of ‘Democratic-Republican Party’, his policies stimulated rank and file political activism, and it was under him that the democratic party took form distinguished from the earlier Federalists.
From Jefferson on, every president was elected under democratic-Republican designation, till John Quincy Adams in 1824, then under Democratic until Martin Van Buren in 1836. Till the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, as a Republican, Democrats won all the elections, except in 1840 and 1848, which were won by Whigs, a precursor to Lincoln republicans. After that until 1912, except for 1884 and 1892, Republicans won national elections.
To determine whether democracy is present in the American system, one should look at the voting franchise. Women were given the vote under the 19th amendment, in 1920. Briefly, after the civil war, African Americans were allowed to vote, but an inter-party deal in 1876, enabled the southern states to inhibit the voting by blacks by such devices as literacy requirement, while literate whites were welcome.
Less than half of eligible voters cast their votes in presidential years, far less in mid term and still fewer in local elections. Many of the non-voters are among the uneducated, but a lot of sophisticated ones see little difference between democrats and republicans.
All states, except for Nebraska, have a bicameral legislature, with a governor and a court system patterned on the federal system. The biggest difference is between the two is in the judiciary. None of the original states allowed popular election of judges. With ..eruption of Jacksonian democracy, in the 1820s and 1830s, one state after another switched to an elective system…from NY in 1846 when it decided to elect judges, until 1958, when Alaska joined the union, every new state…provision…an elected judiciary (Donald Dale Jackson, judges: An Inside View of the Agonies and Excesses of an American Elite, NY, Athenaeum 1974 p 15).. Owing to charges…scandals, out right cases of corruption of judges, a number of states reinstated the appointive system. All but ten have some form of election of judges. Till to date, judicial elections produce…very much like an open running sewer…
Judges, elected or appointed, make decisions influenced by their political affiliation, elected ones more so. English judges, with a far higher reputation for rectitude,, are appointed and the French train them as scientists and military officers.
Under ‘Operation Graylord’ by 08/08/1988, the 14th Chicago and Cook County judge was brought to trial. 12 judges and 55 lawyers and court officials were convicted and sent to prison for corruption, consisting of taking and giving money for favorable decisions. Lawyers split their fee with judges, who presumably shared it with their party. Similar instances can be cited in NY, Texas and many other states.
Federal judges enjoy a better reputation than federal office holders, who can be inept to the highest level, witness Presidents Warren Harding, Gerald Ford and the lesser bush (Arundhati Roy). Fear of losing the next election will inevitably affect the decisions.

Chap 4
One does not have to go to a law college for obtaining a law degree. One can attend night schools.
High learning is no guarantee for probity. Francis Bacon, a philosopher and lord chancellor of Britain, was convicted of corruption in 1621. Judge Otto Kerner, son of a Federal judge, alumnus of Brown college Cambridge (UK), two term governor of IL, 1967 chair of Race Relations Commission, was convicted of corruption in 1974 (Read Judges by Donald Dale Jackson, The finest Judges Money Can Buy by Chuck Ashman, The Corrupt Judge by Joseph Borkin.
The pool of lawyers from which judges are drawn, is very large. The US had 655,191 lawyers in 1986 (US Statistical Abstract 1988, Get new statistics), DC had 28,399 ( I for 22 citizens), NY 72,575 (1:244) with CA, TX, IL close behind. American political system heavily infiltrated, devised and operated by them, and they have more immunity and privilege than any other professional group. Bar certification from states with minimal requirements and ‘easy’ examinations can be transferred to the ones with stringent requirements and ‘difficult’ examinations.
Public image of lawyers has been poor for a long time. Loss of cases causes suspicion in client’s mind. Lawyers are no different, they are as good or bad as a class as other human beings. Some are more flexible than others.
Self policing of the bar is a myth. Chicago Sunday Times 6/21/1988, “court clears six lawyers, who lent money to Judge”. The Judge was later convicted of corruption. Court rules say “A lawyer shall not give or lend anything of value to a judge, EXCEPT FOR CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS”.

Chap V
Under public pressure, states had to adopt referendum, initiative and recall procedures.
Referendum, first adopted by south Dakota, in 1898, has been adopted by 20 states, is initiated by a requisite number of voters, that some law passed or proposed be submitted to a popular vote.
Initiative, originated in Switzerland, provides a method by which laws may be proposed by petition and submitted to legislature/people/both.
Recall is dis-election. Like initiative, it is also a Swiss device, though it was used in the US under the articles of con-Federation, has since been used first by the city of Los Angeles in 1907. It has been approved by 11 states. It is not impeachment, but aims at substituting a policy at variance with the one supported by an elected official
US congressmen can not be recalled and do not apply to the US government.
The methods are cumbersome and seldom used. Their practical use is little. Frequent indulgence will occupy all the time of the public at the cost of making a living and no attempt to incorporate them in the US constitution, keeping democracy at bay.

Chap VI
In a democracy, at a minimum, people have to be consulted in, if not making decisions. The founding fathers felt that a two year term for congressmen well expressed the principle. In 1913, the rising clamor for democracy brought about the amendment for the popular election of senators. They had previously been elected by state legislators, and it was revealed that the legislators had been routinely bribed. But the term remained six years. By the time the term expired, the work done in the senate, good or bad, is so extensive, that unless caught in a scandal, incumbency being such n advantage, they were usually reelected.
The US does have frequent elections that people ought to be happy. But there are many complaints.
Federal elections are staggered on the theory that in the upper deliberative house, incumbents could guide new comers and in an off year, a party would not be swept out. Federal elections are every two years. Other elections are in practice, every year and combined with primaries, people get sick and don’t vote. In municipal elections the turn out id often only 15-20%. Even in presidential races, Reagan won in 1984 with only 25% of eligible voters.
When general unrest is high, as in post depression years, election is a buffer between the people and the federal government. Politicians ‘buy’ votes through Tax supported programs. Parties of all hues make a concerted attempt to nibble at benefits when things settle down (post Johnson in the US and post labor in Britain). Similar measures put into effect in Canada and European countries.
In the US, the core of voters consists of government employees and their families, about 1/3rd of all voters. There is an implicit pressure on them to vote.
In all large cities political parties run machines, which dispense favors.
No matter how informed the voter, choice is restricted to 2-3 candidates. Usually the establishment ones win. They behave deceptively. In order to appeal to all economic, religious, cultural and education classes.
Professor Sidney Hook, for long the head of philosophy at NY York university wrote “Democracy” in the Encyclopedia Americana, offers a view very different from the one held by the founding fathers in 1787, proposes a distinction between direct and indirect democracy to dissolve misconceptions that one, the only true democracy is the one in which all citizens are present while making legislations as in ancient Greek city states or in New England town meetings. “This distinction breaks down because…there can be no direct democracy, if laws are defined not only in terms of their adoption, but also in terms of their execution”. “For delegation of authority is inescapable in any political assemblage, unless all citizens are in continuous service at times, not only legislating, but also executing them together…the basic question is whether the delegation is reversible…”.
Through history from the Greek times, democracy related solely to making laws and policy, execution had necessarily to be done by delegates. The entire population can not deliver mail, be the police or soldiers.
The second misconception, according to Hook, is that democracy is often confused with republic. “…a republican form of government is that in which the chief titular head …is not hereditary”. A republic can be undemocratic, e.g. Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. The Roman lawyer, statesman, public official and philosopher, Cicero said “Ubi tyrannus est, ibi plane est nulla res publica-where there is a tyrant, there clearly is no republic. Republic was used to refer to what in English is called ‘the state’, which in pre-imperial Rome was the government elected by male citizens and in ancient Greece, the populace made all the decisions. In Latin republic, the decisions were made by elected officials. According to Hook “there is no organic or legal connection between democracy and a republic”.
The reason for the seemingly futile word play is the popular appeal of democracy and republic. It is for the reason that all politicians, including dictators, insist that their governments are democratic. On neither side does the populace really runs the government. While people in one party states are under no illusion that they run the government, it is widespread in multi-party states especially in the US. The people believe in the palpable falsehood, the same way they do in life after death.
There is no doubt that there is much greater freedom under western governments, but the western governments must be constituted under a rigid constitution, and once constituted, their authority is just as great as that of any dictatorship.
The US constitution is a republican structure. People can in theory change the constitution, but it has been made very difficult because in addition to ¾ of federal legislature, ¾ of the states have to pass it too, with 2/3 majority.
Reagan showed where the power o f decision lay, by giving the Federal government broad new authority on November 18, 1988 to draft emergency evacuation plans for people near nuclear plants, sweeping away the requirement for community approval. The order highlighted the fact that since the 1940 Manhattan project, nuclear development for peace time use has never been offered a public debate.
Residents of the communities in long Island and NH can shut off the plants only after they manage to amend the constitution.

Chap VII
A pre-requisite for democracy, agreed to by all philosophers, is a well informed electorate. But there are no definitive methods of obtaining such data.
Literacy, though very different from education, can be one criterion. For argument’s sake, let us consider the USA, where nearly 80% finish high school (12 grades). But a substantial percentage are virtually illiterate (compare BA and MA from Pakistan).
The US has 2,500 4 year and 1000 2 year ones. They grant, in addition to degrees, such additives as cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude-with praise, with great praise and with the highest praise.
NY Times 09/04/1988, 27 million Americans were functionally illiterate, with reading skills below the fifth grade level and the numbers grow by 2 million every year.
Hook emphasizes that in addition to being informed, citizens must be active participants. Government is so complex, the chances of any one being more than superficially informed, are minimal. Even the members of the congress are not well informed and exhibit it by launching extensive investigations on some single government activity, and after months of hearings, often record revelations, hard to believe. The average US citizen, NY times, Washington Post and the Wall street journal, notwithstanding, know any more than the average citizen of the USSR did about the Soviet government (Beer, football, soaps). Corporate media deliberately spread misinformation viz Iraq war, Vietnam, health care.
Democracy is virtually non-existent. The process, at best, serves to obfuscate issues to befuddle popular thought.

Chap VIII
The illusion of democracy that he media extol, and which many Americans would like to spread over the world, has created an intense feeling of superiority in the US and Europe vis a vis the rest of the world. This system, can be installed in spite of the high levels of illiteracy prevalent in Asia, Latin America and Africa, if, as the West would have it, they only had elections and several political parties. In Europe and the USA, existing institutions accommodate, guide and educate newly elected officials. They have few in the LDCs.
Elections do not determine policy, which is at variance or even opposed to public perception, but do have one benefit. They are seminars in political awareness. (But the process of learning is very long. Indian voters, after scores of elections over six decades, even in the relative absence of corporate media pushing distractions, are not much better informed than their Pakistani counter parts, who if the negative influence of religious indoctrination were to be obviated, would probably be better informed as they are generally better fed and have the energy to discuss issues).

Chap IX
That election returns decide one outcome and subsequent government action another or one even diametrically opposed to public mandate, can be demonstrated with the 1912 elections in the USA. The Republican party split and democrat Woodrow Wilson won. His first term was marked by several reforms.
WW I broke out in 1914. The US declared neutrality, but the UK and France borrowed heavily from the US banks and ordered war supplies from the country. By 1916, it was a stalemate. The UK and French propaganda machines churned out lie after lie and succeeded.
Germany made the ‘mistake’ of not borrowing from the Wall Street, and announced their ‘horrifying’ war plans. The UK
And France, though no less malicious, kept their intentions hidden.
On May 07, 1915, Lusitania, an American liner was torpedoed off the coast of Ireland by a submarine, with the loss of 128 Americans. Germany had openly warned the passengers to keep off it as it carried munitions. The claim was denied by the shipping company, though the US had cleared the shipment. Many years later, it established in a British court of inquiry that the ship, in deed carried munitions, the Royal navy knew that submarines were operating in the area, but on orders from on high, no effort was made to intercept them, and that the British government wanted the ship attacked to inflame American public opinion against the Germans, which it did.
Wilson did not take the bait and won the reelection on the slogan ‘he kept us out of war’ while making undeclared preparations to enter the war, thus lying blatantly to the US public (Robert Nisbet-The Present Age 1988). The technique of “The Big lie” was born, developed by the British and the present, taken to heart by the US and made famous by Germans. One of the big lies was the supposed superiority of the Aryan Race, with the Japanese as Honorary Aryans.
The clergy joined lustily joined the anti-German propaganda (Ray H Abrams: Preachers Present Arms 1933). Wilson had declared war in April, 1917. and “created a kind of super-government ruin by him through a series of commissions to which he gave extraordinary powers (Page Smith: America Enters the World, Vol 7 p 568 of A People’s history of the Progressive Era and WW I, 1985). Wilson had imposed a virtually dictatorial dispensation, and fierce anti-German/foreigner/dissenter propaganda under a public information committee headed by George Creel, was launched (ibid p 540-66). German music (Bach and Beethoven) and language were banished. People changed names in thousands. Nazis were to do the same, on a much larger scale, to Jews, Gypsies and political opponents.
Page Smith “the image of the US as a land of freedom, justice, equality and opportunity…prominent in the decades after the formation of the union, dimmed under the iniquities of slavery and land grab of Mexican wars, renewed with the civil war, tarnished by the capital/labor war, …aggressive imperialism, stories of municipal corruption, war replaced the negative image…with…a glowing picture of democracy’s…best hope”.
Joseph Paul Goebbels emulated George Creel.
A national election in the US is never more than theater, the winning side has a more impressive theme, and like Wilson do diametrically opposite of what they had announced. In a parliamentary system the election platform is more likely to become the policy of the administration (Blair had to leave office due to adverse public opinion, but GWB won reelection, Churchill lost in 1945, in spite of the victory). In the US there is no way that an administration can be held to its promises. In the 1918 mid term election democrats lost (2006 elections republicans lost) but Wilson’s policy did not.
Largely because of the legacy of Wilson Democrats kept on losing from 1920 to 1928, till the crash of October, 1929, the consequence of reckless speculation financed by big banks on thin equity margins. But the following depression was not caused by the crash. In 1930, Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff bill (save the capitalists policy), allowing record high import tariffs, other countries retaliated and international trade and manufacturing behind it collapsed.
The Fed, dictated by the NY Fed which were run by Manhattan Banks, kept the interest rates high, making the depression worse, leading to 25% unemployment and millions more under employed, loss of savings, reduced consumer spending, reduced production and increased depression.
Roosevelt, in the 1932 campaign, hardly mentioned all that, just that ‘hard times’ due to Hoover were upon us, though Hoover had offered many relief measures except direct aid to the poor. Roosevelt, certain of victory, did not make great promises, but stressed government overspending, promised to stop it and broke the promise almost immediately on taking office. Scores of agencies, called the alphabet soup at the time, were set up (Indo-Pak expatriates, especially the latter are fond of launching such groups). Popularity was gained by direct aid to citizens reduced to poverty and creation of jobs.
The emergency-depression- the new deal was supposed to be coping with, it failed to do. Nearly all economists agree that what lifted the US out of depression was the war in Europe, and sent Europe to virtual bankruptcy.
Truman won in 1948, against expectations on the platform of “protect the New Deal Programs” and whistle stop tour is credited with giving him victory.
In 1950, Truman had the army seize the rail roads, to prevent a general strike, and return them to owners in 1952. Emboldened, on April 8, 1952, he ordered the seizure of steel mills to prevent a strike. The order was rule illegal by the SC on June 2.
Eisenhower won in 1952 and 1956 against a much more qualified candidate, erudite and witty Adlai Stevenson, on the basis of his overwhelming war time renown.. Both Republicans and democrats had tried to recruit him.
In 1960 Kennedy defeated Nixon. Some say Mayor Daley in Il and Johnson in TX had stolen votes for him. There were no real issues in the election, except fictitious ones like the missile gap. The distinguishing feature of the election was the record number of catholic votes cast. Religious vote plays a considerable part in US elections. The entire Jewish vote went foot Truman for supporting the establishment of Israel.
Johnson won as a man of peace, while like Wilson preparing to escalate the war in Vietnam. He expanded the war on the basis of disinformation (Tonkin Gulf incident when North Vietnamese torpedo boats were supposed to have fired on American ships) to the people like GWB did in Iraq (WMDs).
Nixon won, having learned from Johnson, declared that he had sure fire plan to end the war in Vietnam. The war lasted for six more years. He broke all laws, he could and that culminated in Watergate.
Gerald Ford, appointed vice president when Spiro Agnew pleased no contest to charges of accepting bribes while a governor of Maryland and while sitting in VP office. He succeeded to the presidency post Watergate and lost the election to
Carter, as he was to rue later, on the backlash of Nixon pardon and the evils of Nixon/Agnew/Ford years.
Carter lost his bid for reelection because of his perceived ineptitude, indecisiveness (he retracted a UN vote on Palestine-Israel, by the US representative by ? name former mayor of Atlanta GA which was slightly evenhanded) and handling of the Iran hostage crisis. His one major achievement was the Camp David accord between Anwar Sadaat and Menachim Begin. The Jewish lobby was unhappy at the ‘concessions’ Israel was ‘forced’ to concede.
Reagan did the bidding of capitalists, undid most of Johnson reforms and his ‘major achievement’ was the attack on Granada, a tiny republic the size of a medium sized US city and Iran-contra scandal-sold arms to Iran through Israel to fund terrorists in Nicaragua. Many observers believe his team persuaded Iranians to hold release of hostages till after the c1980 elections against hitherto undisclosed concessions. For good measure Iranians, to further humiliate Carter, kept the hostages till Reagan inauguration day and actually timed it with arrival of Reagan in the White house.
Bush senior followed, won high ratings for removing Iraqi forces from Kuwait, which Saddam had occupied after being told by the US ambassador, April Gillespie that the US had no views on the matter. He, becoming too big for his britches, enraged the Jewish lobby by demanding that the country halt new settlement activity as the price of a ten billion loan guarantee (I saw skull capped Jews on TV threatening him “Mr. President, we will see you on election day”.
Clinton, a virtually unknown (even for sex scandals) undistinguished small state governor because of the most successful to date, third party candidate-Ross Perot. Clinton was most ardent global corporation promoter, pushed WTO, deregulated the media, reducing ownership from 85 to 5 corporations, has NAFTA passed, repealed Smoot-Hawley tariff bill, but his time in office was made most memorable by the Monica Lewinsky scandal during which he committed perjury in public and escaped a prison term, reaffirming that all Americans were ‘equal under law.
Clinton was followed by the lesser Bush (courtesy Arundhati Roy, unarguably the dimmest US president, he did not know that social security was a Federal government program). He dragged the country into a war in Iraq, based on deliberately concocted rumors that Iraq had WMDs. US congress went along and continued supporting him, despite the exposure of lies. The underlying idea was, of course, control of energy resources and settling scores with Iran, after a walk over in Iraq.
The above should convince even the skeptics that presidential candidates (and nearly all politicians) routinely and deliberately lie about their intentions.
Successful candidates never win a majority of eligible votes due to apathy of the electorate, based on disillusionment with the process, belying the propaganda that the US is a participatory democracy.
Wilson introduced conscription for overseas services. Lights would go on in cinema houses and federal agents would demand evidence of draft registration from all young men and arrest the ones who could not-terror tactics are thus not new. During the civil war, there was conscription in the Democratic South-North followed. Wilson’s second term policies were totalitarian and encouraged totalitarian regimes in Europe.
In 1920, Harding’s secretary of interior, Albert Fall was sent to jail for transferring Naval oil reserve land to a private oil co.
Depression: Lack of funds deprived people of food, clothing and shelter. “Brother, can you spare a dime” went the refrain.

Chap X: Secret/Illegal Deals.
A great number of the activities of the American government are secret, and illegal. The same goes for other ‘democratic governments. The electorate does not approve of it, as was made amply evident during Watergate, so the public has no influence whatsoever, and democracy is not practiced. Congress concurs with the government ‘in the national interest’ directed at ‘enemy states’, such as the former Soviet Union. This is the province of CIA and met public approval. Secret activity against criminals also meets public approval.
But this ‘allowable secret activity’ is often directed to patently illegal ends, and against ‘the people’ themselves, a clear negation of democratic foundation. The major instances which had nothing to do with communism or the former Soviet Union are as follows:
Iran-PM Mossadegh nationalized oil industry in 1951 ( Post WW II, Britain had nationalized many industries).his government was toppled by a CIA organized coup, an obviously illegal act, on the patently false excuse that he was a communist. The shah was reinstalled and aided and abetted by the CIA, unleashed a brutal regime which lasted till the 1979 Khomeini revolution.
Guatemala-President Jacobo Guzman was toppled in 1954, in a CIA arranged/financed coup, again on the same lame excuse that he was a communist (a weak communist party had supported his election, so had the US communist party supported
Roosevelt between 1934-1945.. He had introduced agrarian reforms, nationalization of millions of acres of United Fruit company of Boston held land (It did not adopt policies any more communist than the New Deal (Encyclopedia American 1971 edition), International railroads of Central America and Empresa Electrica, a subsidiary of Electric Bond and share company…bringing the country into sharp conflict with entrenched economic interests. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and his brother Allen, director of CIA were the prime movers of the coup.
Indonesia-General Suharto, aided and abetted by the CIA and Islamic extremists, overthrew the popular founding father and president of the Indonesian republic. He was a pillar of the non-aligned movement and no communist. An estimated 2 million were killed in the aftermath. A highly corrupt totalitarian and genocidal regime lasted till mid 1990s.
Chile-The duly elected government was overthrown in September 1973 in a CIA assisted coup. President Salvadore Allende Gossens, an avowed Socialist with Marxist orientation, but no communist. Elected in 1970, was killed. He had nationalized copper and other mines, which had been plundered by Anaconda copper mining company of Iowa, the USA.
In fact, it is never Marxism, Communism, Socialism or any other ism which impels the US government to intervene. It is always nationalization of properties held by US companies, obtained in the first place by bribery and allocation of shares to generally un-elected rulers.
Nicaragua:
For most of the 20th century CE, Nicaragua has been an informal fiefdoms of the USA. It was occupied by US marines. In January, 1937 General Somoza, commander of the National guard took the country over and rules as an American satrap. He was assassinated by Sandinistas (named after Caesar Sandino, guerrilla leader who did not bend to US wishes and was assassinated in 1934) Somoza’s son took over in 1957 and was deposed in 1979 by Sandinistas. The core of Sandinistas was Marxist and received massive aid from the USSR. The movement got split as the leaders did not want elections.
Dissidents, known as contras took to the country side and fought the Sandinistas. The US congress voted to fund them with $100 million in 1986, and Reagan used extra-constitutional means. That was called Iran –contra scandal.
But the problem was not just elections. Many ‘controlled’ countries in the stage of primitive social development, Pakistan for example, do not have the ability to hold even fairly reasonably staged elections.
Presidents from either party in the US accept such arrangements in subordinate countries-the shah of Iran, dictators of Central America, Pinochet in Chili, Suharto of Indonesia, Marcos of Philippines, Batiste of Cuba, Arab satrapies and many others. (Truman was honest. They are our sons of bitches).
Americans are blissfully unaware of the events. The media represent dictators as rescuers.
In all foreign embroilments, the president acts through the CIA or the State department. Constitution makes the president in charge of foreign policy, but there is no precise definition of what he may or may not do. He, unlike the British PM, does not have to report to the parliament or confer with his cabinet. He meets ambassadors of existing governments and makes mutually satisfactory agreements. But in countries with chaos, he may do anything he likes, and if American lives or property are involved, he may take whatever action without consulting the congress. He is not being faithless to the oath of his office when he supports or props up dictators and puppets. In the Congo, the US puppet, Jonas Savimba fought with Soviet puppets.
When a president gets dissatisfied with a dictator, the dictator seems to disintegrate-Batiste in Cuba, Trujillo in Dominican Republic and Marcos in Philippines. In the realm of foreign policy, the president is a dictator. A presidential decree deposed Mossadegh in Iran, Arbenz in Guatemala and Allende in Chile.
The Jewish lobby:
Facts are too well known to bear repetition, but they represent not the interests of the Jewish people but of Jewish capital, and in this they are assisted by fundamentalist Christian preachers, many of whom are huge corporations in their own right and support global corporations.

Chap XI:
While the CIA was destabilizing Iran, Guatemala, Chile, Angola and other places, the American electorate did not know about the unfolding events and did not have a chance to approve or disapprove, and when the news broke, they were told outright lies, and false information that communism was being contained. The US government is as independent of the public as any other government, not excluding the former soviet union. The big difference, however, is that members of the US government have to present themselves for re-election frequently, but the electorate is generally too preoccupied with its own problems to pay much attention.
The US government at the behest of the presidents has taken unconstitutional and illegal actions against a large number of citizens. Wilson began this kind of activity in his second term when A.G, A. Mitchell Palmer, labeling them ‘radicals’ arrested a large number and variety of citizens and aliens, as they disagreed with the government about the ongoing war. Some were deported after summary proceedings, others were harassed for being pro-German. Republicans cashed in the German-American votes in 1920,1924 and 1928 to garner large majorities. In 1980, 50 million Americans considered themselves of English or part English ancestry, 49 million German or part, 40 million Irish or part. Only the depression made the people switch back to democrats in 1932.
After Pearl Harbor in 1941, with the concurrence of all the branches of the governments including the courts110,000 Japanese, including 75,000 citizens were moved into concentration camps and their property was confiscated, on the grounds that they might be spies or saboteurs. As it turned out, not one of them was found to be so from all the records that US had access to in Japan. In 1988, the US had to acknowledge the gross injustice, and pay compensation of $20,000 each.
The government does not act horribly only towards specific groups. It does so towards dissidents of all kinds.
The secrecy surrounding atomic bomb, understandable during the war, though breached by Soviet agents nearly from the start, has continued, causing harm and death to many civilians due to radiation among people living near atomic plants. Above ground tests in Nevada desert exposed troops in the vicinity. Clouds settled over Utah. Eisenhower ordered aides to give ambiguous answers to the reason for of higher deaths due to cancer. Proponents of atom generated electric power (now 20% of the whole)
Tried to equate radiation with smoke from wood, coal and oil. Chernobyl in 1986 (and 3 mile island) established that a single mishap or test explosion can be fatal to many.
The number of unannounced atomic leakages is not known. The New York Times of November 04, 1988, the Department of energy and its predecessor, the Atomic energy commission had for 28 years, kept a number of serious reactors accidents at the Savannah river Plant in south Carolina…illustrated a deeply rooted institutional practice dating from …the Manhattan project…any disclosure of incident at a nuclear plant…harmful to national security.” the excuse was that the Soviet union would learn from it, yet they knew as much all along. Another false premise was that foreigners had less knowledge , though the whole knowledge was brought by foreigners-refugees from Nazi fascism. The US contributed finance and engineering.(An average college physics student could get all the knowledge from libraries, and now can download the technology from his computer t home).
As the public came to know of the dangers of atomic energy, fierce opposition grew and several plants, though completed, could not get operational due to legal actions.
Through out the country, plants producing fissionable material for weapons, have been leaking atomic radiations into the surrounding water and atmosphere for years. The local residents did not know. The public has been routinely deceived or left ignorant.
Industrial hazards and not just the atomic ones, have been downplayed or denied all along for the benefit of private corporations. Corporations have individual rights. Officers beholden to and hired by the corporation, if lose government jobs, hired by corporations. US cabinet jobs interchangeable with corporate heads-Cheney, Rumsfeld and too many others to enumerate. The trade off is to avoid items of greater costs by scrupulous vigilance, as with higher costs, the public will prove balky, and profits would suffer. Ordinary safety measures, of labeling and handling toxic materials by chemical and oil industries as well as by others, have been ignored as cost cutting, officials have ignored them to, for personal gain in the present or the future (the condition is worse in other countries, Nigeria and Bolivia. In the US escaping natural gas from drilling sites has to be compressed and stored in tanks. In Nigeria, it is freely allowed into air).
Johns-Manville corporation, makers of asbestos, which was at one time applied as freely in all construction ,as steel, wood, bricks or mortar. Insiders in England knew as long ago as 1890s that it was dangerous after frequent or continuous exposure, but Johns-Manville records show that hey were aware of hazards at least since 1930s..
In time, tens of thousands of workers fell victim to fatal illnesses, but used it till a few decades ago.
All administrations have been extremely sensitive to the interests of the corporations. Electoral democracy has little to say about government.

Chap XII: Knowledge About Candidate.
Though the experts on democracy assert that voters should know about issues and candidates, they are voting for, yet they often lack such knowledge. People did not know that Wilson that he had Cerebral-Vascular disease which…alterations in behavior and personality (Edward Weinstein Professor Neurology Mount Sinai School of Medicine in the journal of American history,
09/ 1970, Vol.57 p 324-351), with alarming symptoms showing as early as 1906. Weinstein traced it to 1896, when he had depression, tension, headaches with high BP, was blinded in outer left eye in 1906, indicative of occlusive disease of the carotid artery which supplies a major portion of blood to the brain.
During the April, 1919 peace conference in Paris, he had spells of irrationality. In October, 1919, he had a massive stroke. He sacked William Jennings Bryan for advocating neutrality in WW I. In 1916, there was stalemate in trench warfare and appropriate time for cease fire. US encouraged continued fighting.
After victory, punitive to pay war reparations imposed on Germany the sheer stupidity of Versailles treaty are well described by John M. Keynes in his “ The Economic consequences of Peace 1919”.
The blunder was recognized post WW II, when Germany (and Europe) was rehabilitated with the Marshall plan.
Wilson’s war was to save democracy, even though Russia and Japan were monarchies.
Wilson’s big idea was The League of Nations, which the senate refused to ratify.
The League was followed by the UNO. It is paralyzed by the veto system in the security council which has supremacy in the decision making process.
Conception of mankind:
From time immemorial, philosophers have projected an image of mankind as a superior and constructive creature. Aristotle said man is a rational animal. That is not quite true. Man is the most dangerous animal on earth, for himself and others. Only governments keep him from destroying others, and governments engage in war with other governments on relatively trivial matters.
Wilson’s secret agenda was to help Britain, against George Washington’s doctrine of no entangling alliances.
Wilson was not the only president whose physical and mental condition was kept a secret. FDR was paralyzed from waist down. Few knew about it, he was photographed standing up on concealed braces. But he was rational. Eisenhower’s illnesses were immediately known and gave rise to calls for medical examination of candidates. Nothing formal was done. JFK had Addison’s disease, a condition of hormonal deficiency which can affect mental function. The condition was carefully kept hidden. Johnson had had a heart attack before he ran for the presidency in 1964.
Involvement of the US in Vietnam by JFK and LBJ in Vietnam is beyond any rational explanation. It was certainly not to fight world communism, Vietnam was a minor outpost of the system. Avenging French defeat at the hands of Vietnamese communists would make even less sense.
It is not just the physical condition of presidents that is kept from the public. An ‘image’ is carefully constructed by speech writers and media, make up artists, tailors, stage designers, lighting experts and hair dressers (seating arrangements-two women in Muslim Hijab were asked to sit out of camera range in one of Obama’s campaign appearances) to develop a persona in the charade called elections. Once elected presidents have what Romans called Imperium-command.
JFK was presented as an earnest, serious and patriotic catholic veteran of WW II. The press invented resemblance to Camelot, based on the legendary King Arthur’s court. The Catholic factor was tested on a computer and the answer was ‘stress it’. He was only a notional catholic. In actual fact he was a secularist, hedonist and a rank opportunist. He womanized with abandon before marriage, and continued to do so after. Jacky was bribed by his father from going public before the campaign. There was a long line of one night stands in the White House (on a visit to London, he told the patrician British PM, Harold Macmillan that he could not function unless he f….d a new woman every night. The older man blenched).
He managed to transform a guerilla training operation into an invasion of Cuba-Bay of Pigs. Contrary to common belief, he did not inherit it. He failed to consult his predecessor or any one in the military about the feasibility of Bay of Pigs. Professor Garry Wills in his The Kennedy Imprisonment, delineates carefully that there was no pre-existing CIA plan to invade Cuba. The entire scheme was supervised by JFK himself. Professor Wills “the truth is JFK went ahead…not to complete…inherited…but to mark his difference with Eisenhower…”.His adviser Theodore Sorenson admitted his disapproval…would be “a show of weakness…”(Bush senior invaded Iraq to overcome his ‘wimp’ image).
He and his brother Robert engaged known mobsters to assassinate Castro, a clear violation of international norms and US constitution.
Instillation of soviet missiles was a reaction to Bay of Pigs, so JFK was only dealing with the aftermath of his own blunder.
JFK is praised for the bold and skillful handling of the crisis. The actual hero was Nikita Khruchev, who gave in, and was dumped by the politburo (a view Bertrand Russell agrees with). Withdrawal of the missile still left the US vulnerable to soviet nuclear armed submarines and ICBMs.
Eisenhower had refused to send troops to Vietnam against Ho Chi Minh, a war time US ally against the Japanese. Wending 114,000 troops to Vietnam was a greater blunder. Johnson and Nixon inherited the ensuing destabilization.
Bay of Pigs, Castro assassination and Vietnam did not have any public sanction.

Chap XIII:
Before Watergate, media were supine. The high mark of media sycophancy was reached in JDFK time. Now under total control of corporations, they laud favorite candidates and spread scandals against others (Kerry VS bush).they have reverted to type again. Iran contra was hushed up, WMD hyped on the wishes of Bush-Cheney.
Press, always corporate dominated, opposed FDR’s New Deal, though the fact that most of the public approved of it.
More recently questioning the qualification of Quayle was followed by a backlash.. But people need not have worried. Party regulars run the administration and if a president is tractable, they make sure he did not do something totally idiotic.
Gerald Ford, described by Johnson as a man who could not walk and chew gum at the same time, proved the latter right by insisting during a debate with Carter that Poland was under the thumb of the USSR.
Elections and governance have little to do with each other.
Among the countries, which hold elections on a regular basis, there are degrees of democracy. The British version is more democratic than the US one, as it has to be relatively more responsive to public opinion (Blair went to war in Iraq despite overwhelming public opinion against it and got away because the opposition supported the invasion in the ‘greater interest of capitalism’).the PM has to carry his cabinet and the majority of the house of commons with him/her. Loss of a vote on major issue like the budget or on a vote of confidence necessitates a new election. Britain could nationalize major industries post WW II by a vote of the parliament. In the US, it would take an amendment to the constitution.
Owing to their contextual uses, the words democracy and democrat are usually thought of as something favorable. After all, why would anyone vote for something to their disadvantage?
Just because the process is open does not mean that the public is well informed.
The US is thought of as democracy. But the country is full of institutions, though regulated under law, yet are fixed in their operations, not influenced or swayed by public opinion. Hospitals operate according to principles designed by doctors and regulated by law. Private schools are not subject to any government regulations or even suggestions as to the subjects they teach or the methods they adopt to do so. Corporations, though established under the constitution and subject to special laws in some particulars, operate with out the least governmental or democratic direction.
Only self financed organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous are examples of democracy.
The American constitution as originally framed, permits democratic behavior, and in many cases actually requires it. The first amendment forbids the denial or establishment of any religion. It also guarantees freedom of speech and of the press, assembly and petition.
But most violations of civil rights are perpetrated by citizens against one another, not by officials. They are popularly known as crime and involve deprivation of life, health, tranquility, liberty and property. Owing mainly to its polyglot, uprooted and unstable population, the US has the highest rate of crime of any industrial country in the world. US Statistical Abstract for 1988 tells us that in 1986, there were 19,527 murders reported by the police, 59.1% by guns, 543,000 robberies, 3024 million burglaries, 7.25 million larceny/thefts and 1.2 million motor vehicle thefts. 72,626 rapes and 17,504 attempted rapes were reported for the year. Most cases of rape are not reported. 10.39 million persons were arrested. 25% of the households in the US were touched by crime. Prisons were ‘full’ to 115% capacity.
In 1985, 2,905,700 were in ‘correctional detention’, over a million in actual jails, 277, 400 on parole and 1,870,100 on probation. The cost of the criminal justice system was $45.6 billion. The actual time spent in jail in 1986, was low compared to the period of sentence-released on the average after 15.6 months for a 34 month.
Most sentences in time served are relatively light, though kidnappers (29) were sentenced to 20.9 years and served 7.1 years.
Constituents of democracy that is the public are clearly disorderly. American citizens enjoy more personal liberty than those in any other country, but they freely prey on other citizens.
In the Soviet union citizens observed all the rules which were indubitably onerous, but chances of molestation were low. Since the introduction of ‘democracy’ the country Russians enjoy a crime rate favorable comparable with the one in the USA.
American public opinion favors the predator more than it does the victim.
6 million children are routinely neglected/abused every year. Still right to life campaigners carry on.

Chap XIV:
Indirect democracy, as the USG is defined by the political scientist, does not stand the test of scrutiny. No member of the USG, from the president down, is under any constitutional obligation to do the bidding of the electorate. Article IV binds them to the oath of supporting the constitution (incidentally this oath is frequently violated-1n 1988, 523 federal, 71 state and 271 local officials convicted).
Serious injury is brought to the public by the action of officials, glaringly brought to attention by the less than careful operation of the nuclear plants (1988, 30 plants emitted radio-active emissions into air, water and land). Danger of asbestos kept from the public for decades.
The conditions the environmentalists are protesting are created by industrial revolution. There is no safe place to dump wastes except perhaps distant deserts, but the cost of transport would be great and desert ecology would be damaged.

That democracy is not in operation is illustrated best by the fact that candidates amass and fantastic amounts of money, with no public accounting or control. Neither the public nor by the treasury except for matching funds given to presidential candidates. Even Obama, with all the hull-bulla about internet raised funds, got a tiny % from the net (collected by PACs which are beholden to and serve special interests/lobbies. Public demands for change are ignored with impunity. Advocates of democracy like common Cause are furious opponents of PACs. Despite public clamor, progress towards clean up of toxic wastes is slow and done mostly at the expense of the public consumer and not at the expense of polluters who contribute heavily to PACs. When put under pressure, they often move out of the country-that is an additional reason for living wage in LDCs.
In the Economic Education Bulletin for August 1988, the American Institute for economic Research reports that politicians and money managers “have embezzled by the inflating process the surplus of all who produce…In just 45 years, our planners have taken $6.3 trillion from the savings accounts of the ‘forgotten citizens… The surplus product of all who produce in opaque economic terms stands for peoples savings in bank accounts, bonds and securities.
Inflation is generally spoken of as though it were a natural phenomenon, like bad weather. But it is man made, by governments. It is simply brought about by printing money to pay for expenditure going beyond tax collection. ($ of 1940 has lost more than 90% of its value. Real state and good stocks keep their value. A steady rate of inflation at 2% a year will halve the value of a savings account in 15 years.

Until recently, most people prayed to god for surcease from their ills, but with the growth of secularism, many people have lost their in the existence of god.
Much of the impetus for the constitution of the US came from an abhorrence of inflation, at the time centered in state governments with their proclivity to issue paper money.
Politicians beholden to capitalists control the Governments. Public has little say in selection of candidates.
Chap XV: Character of Politicians.
They are known from times immemorial as dissemblers. The US ones, forced by multiplicity of ethnic and religious groups they have to seek votes from, they excel at it.
Words acquire nuances. Liberal has taken the meaning of supporting unqualified people. Opponents are called racists, bigots. Even academic political scientists know little about candidates.
The late H.L. Menken, with many agreeing with him, said that a typical American voter was a ‘boob’. Defenders of the system called him rude and pejorative. What Menken meant, to use another of his words ‘booboisie, was that they were gullible, and had blind trust in preposterous third raters making preposterous promises like Wilson’s ‘war to end war’.
The US Census ascertained that in 1980 and 1984 elections those with larger incomes voted more often, under $5,000 only 37.5 % of registered voters, $10 to 15,000 53.5%, $20 to 30,000 61.2%, $35,000 up 74.2 %.

Chap XVI: Elections.
In themselves, they are democratic, but democracy stops when a candidate is elected. Deep seated public opinion does influence the government, but it subject to manipulation and is complex. Officials conceal evidence to the contrary, which is the practice of nearly all administrations. Any group can be turned into Pariahs, German Americans in 1917-18, Japanese Americans 1941-42 (and Muslims post 9/11, so that USG got away with war in Iraq, concentration camp in Guantanamo and in Iraq, arrests on the slightest pretext and detention of large number of people with out trial).
US is an elitist society with film, sports and other kind of stars. Losers go into oblivion very soon.
Improvement in the lot of the downtrodden is not obtained by a democratic process. It has to be fought for, against the establishment. The gains in the status of blacks in the US came entirely from the republican government in one of its many phases of ignoring the desire of the multitude. It was ‘reasons’ of state
-Emancipation Proclamation of September, 1862, to be effective January I, 1863, to free all slaves in areas still in rebellion’ was to strike a blow against the south by freeing its slaves (Civil War had been going on since April, 1861). Slaves deserted to the union forces. The next stage came with passage of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments. The 13th, proposed in the congress and ratified on December 18, 1965, abolished slavery except as punishment for crime. The 14th, among other things, made all persons born or naturalized in the US into citizens and that made Blacks citizens. The 15th, ratified in 1970, declared all male citizens eligible to vote, which could not be denied ‘on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude’.
Neither the Emancipation, nor the amendments were ever submitted to a popular vote.
Blacks saw their gains diminished as a consequence of the 1876 presidential election. Samuel J.Tilden, democrat of NY, defeated Rutherford B. Hayes of OH (4,287,670 to 4,035,924), getting 184 electoral votes, one short of the required majority. Hayes had 165. In doubt were 8 votes of Louisiana, 7 of south Carolina, and four of Florida and one of Oregan.
Republican refused to concede the elections In the subsequent horse trading, Southern Democrats opted for Hayes in return for segregation of blacks.
Historian of the period, C. Vann Woodward, not only were election boards dishonest, but both political parties employed “irregularities, fraud, intimidation and violence”..
A fair election in South Carolina and Louisiana would have given the states to Hayes, but Florida would have gone to tilden, with the presidency.
The dispute was referred to a congressional commission, which awarded all the votes to Hayes. Tilden supporters threatened filibuster. Hayes supporters offered the Southern Tilden supporters that if it was called off, Union troops would be withdrawn from the south.
The Supreme court began issuing decisions in 1880s, which undermined the 14th and 15th amendments with respect to blacks. In 1883, the court declared the civil rights unconstitutional, and in 1896, came Plessy v. Ferguson, that decreed the constitutionality of ‘separate but equal’ facilities between whites and blacks. No part of the constitution implies that people in a society be separated, except for those who have committed a crime and are segregated in a prison.
Blacks now reverted to approximately the status where they were under slavery, except that they technically free. Segregation was rigorously enforced in the South. And it was taken up informally by trade unions and others in the North. They were informally barred in the North from hotels, restaurants and other public accommodation and in some schools. Though better than in the south, but not by much, as they were made to feel inferior and challenged by the police if they got out of their ghettoes.
In 1954, in Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court, overruling Plessy V. Ferguson, held that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional as a violation of the 14th amendment.
What had caused this reversal. There was no popular demand. There must have been a powerful coercive force at work. One must understand that competent lawyers invariably understand the constitution and do not make the silly mistake of misunderstanding plain language. The cold war was in full swing. The US had exploded its first h bomb in 1952, the USSR in 1953. The Soviet Union was on a full war footing. Its propaganda machine was in full swing all over the world about the racial policy of the US and if it could distribute photos of Black people being lynched with no legal protection, its case would be invulnerable.
The world situation seemed to be shaping up for a war and US trade needed the support of non-whites, a majority of the world population. It was a conflict of communism and capitalism.
In the Plessy v. Ferguson, the court knew that Americans wanted segregation. In brown v. board of education, there was great and continuing opposition to implementation of the order by school busing. White flight ensued, when Blacks were allowed to move in white areas, they moved into suburbs abandoned long time churches, schools and other institutions.
Had it been left to a plebiscite, blacks would still be picking cotton in the south.
American Whites came from Europe, which had for long been a scene of struggle among a large variety of tribal groups. Racists, especially the white-black variety , is really a part of the tribalism common to whites and others.
Black0white animosity, stemming from the original subordinate position of blacks, has served to solidify the whites as a unity, they are white rather than Croatian or Romanian.
In Chicago, a city composed of nearly all immigrant groups, every whit group, except for Anglo-Saxon and Scottish was referred to by a pejorative term, matter of factly, or even amiably. With the incursion of blacks after the SC decision against segregation, most of the South side and much of the west side, once largely white, was surrendered to blacks. It is now a case of niggers living in place of dagoes, wops, ginneys, kikes, yids, bohunks, hunyaks. Polacks, krauts, squareheads, spics and even chinks. The Irish were also known as micks and turks.
NYC was even more tribal and exhibits it in formal parades-St Patrick Day, Columbus Day, Steuben day, Pulaski day etc. Greeks, Norwegian and Puerto Ricans have smaller parades.
Black tribalism never had a chance to show itself in the US due to slavery, but it is rampant in Africa.
Brown v, Board of education emboldened blacks to challenge southern segregation. Early in 1960, a black refused to leave the lunch counter in Greensboro, NC, when refused service and the civil rights movement was launched. In June, 1964 an omnibus civil rights act was passed barring discrimination in voting, employment, public accommodation etc. A new voting Rights bill was passed in 1965.
In 1967, riots broke out in Newark, Detroit, DC, and NY. Johnson had in the meanwhile appointed Thurgood Marshall, a black, to the SC. From 1968, Democrats won only one out of six presidential elections, till Clinton in 1992, (which some hold, was a backlash to Bush Sr demanding freeze on settlements (let us see what happens to Obama).
Legal, illegal. Constitutional or not so, government acts according to its own internal logic.
XVII: Constitution was devised as a practical instrument and offered offices of “honor and Profit”. Emerson in the mid 19th century CE, “office seeking itself has become trade”. US has an operating government, not a frequently overthrown one, as many European parliamentary governments are. When the push comes to shove, government wins.
Thomas Jefferson founded the Democratic part in opposition to Federalist, in the South it descended into Slavocracy, rebellion and finally segregation. The party changed color in 1960s losing white support in the south.
Greeks, who founded democracy, excluded all non-Greeks.
Concept of democracy is so popular because it is so flattering.
Framers incorporated slavery in the constitution, leaving the door open for its abolition. It does not mention democracy.
Unpleasant news is delayed till after elections. Candidates tailor their messages to conform to popular demands.