DEMOCRACY, REPUBLIC, OR SOMETHING ELSE? 12 MAY 2014

My entire life I have heard Americans brag about their democracy. Well, first this country was set up as a Republic not a democracy, and second, that Republic only has a façade of democracy. A recently released study by Martin Giles & Benjamin Page uses measurable variables to do a scientific type study to test which of four possible types of government do we have. The variables clearly show we do not have a democracy!! So much for our delusions. We constantly hear the word “democracy” thrown around, that we are the world’s great democracy which is trying to export our great democracy worldwide. Dream on America.

There is power in a myth. Americans believe they live in a democracy, so they act democratic. How often have we experienced being in some ad hoc group, and everyone saying, “Let’s vote on it.”? We try to pay attention to people’s voices. But sadly, when it comes to decisions that matter, Americans are ruled by the elite. Giles’ & Page’s study concludes, “massed-based interest groups & average citizens have little or no independent influence.” At one point they quote C. Wright Mills book “The Power Elite”. The elite, their foundations, and their opinion-shaping apparatus dominate policy process.

I want to make the pdf file of Gile’s & Page’s study available to people. It might be useful to help wake some people up to reality. As they say, “Wake up America!”