October 14, 2006 at 10:04:50

Progressive Civil Disobedience

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By Joel S. Hirschhorn (about the author) Page 2 of 2 page(s)

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Some 70 percent of the American economy is driven by consumer spending that now works against the interests of non-wealthy Americans. We need national "buycotts" that require no formal membership in organizations, but merely voluntary spending reductions. They can be coordinated by widespread messages from many progressive groups, especially Internet sites. Sharp, sustained reductions in consumer spending can compel the Ruling Class to grant concessions. Even the rich want to maintain a vibrant economy to safeguard their wealth and living style. In reality, if American consumers use their inherent spending power they have the power to bring the entire global economic system down. The plutocracy knows this and that is why they always emphasize maintaining "consumer confidence." At critical times the power elites manipulate events to maintain consumer borrowing and spending, such as the recent steep cuts in gas prices and stock market highs. Fiscal and monetary policies are also used to maintain abundant borrowing and spending.

Ironically, few Americans understand that a relatively small number of consumers, roughly 5 to 10 million have the economic power to severely damage the American and global economy. Spending cutbacks could be become contagious. Leaving out the working poor with little discretionary spending, the amount of discretionary spending by millions of middle class Americans with ample disposable income is sufficient to threaten economic growth and the economy. A major reason is that there is a large "multiplier" associated with consumer spending, meaning that every dollar spent has a large ripple or cumulative impact through various sectors of the economy. One person's spending is another's (actually many others') income. The multiplier can range from four to six. For example, cut consumer spending by $250 billion and it can easily reduce the national GDP by $1 trillion. If the middle class does not soon use its consumer spending power, it will surely lose it as its discretionary income evaporates, because the war against will be won by the Upper Class.

Economic civil disobedience for the foreseeable future has much more power to change our nation for the better than the political act of non-voting. The goal of the economic strategy is to obtain enough reforms and improvements in the political system to restore the effectiveness of voting at some later time. Now, in our perverse society, dollars are more powerful agents of change than votes. In truth, as has been evident for many years, we cannot vote ourselves out of a corrupt, oppressive and delusional democracy that uses military and economic weapons of mass devastation on a global scale for the benefit of elites, while pretending to be the world's best democracy. The truth of all this defines the case for a populist Second American Revolution. We must motivate some millions of Americans that are so fed up with current conditions that they will eagerly join a loose network of American Insurgents for Democracy, not fighting with weapons in the streets, but by withholding their dollars from the economy.

Hundreds of public opinion polls in recent years have supplied all the evidence one could want to demonstrate the terrible state of American democracy, so awful and disgraceful that it is justifiably called delusional, because it no longer is what people think it is. Yet people keep out the pain of admitting that their democracy is no longer great, even though they have little confidence in politicians and their parties. The latest stark public appraisal of politicians was the New York Times/CBS poll conducted earlier this month. Among its findings was that 69 percent of people think that members of congress consider themselves above the law; 70 percent believe that most members of congress do not understand the needs and problems of people like them; and 36 percent believe that Republicrooks in congress are more corrupt than Democraps, 17 percent believe the reverse, and 27 percent think both are equally corrupt adding up to 80 percent seeing a corrupt congress. You might expect such public opinion statistics of some blatantly faux foreign democracy, not the United States of America.

Another interesting reality is a statistic determined about the recent primary elections nationwide. The Center for the Study of the American Electorate at American University found that just 15 percent of eligible voters went to the polls for primary elections. Just 15 percent!

Some people would be depressed by this figure. I see it very positively. Curtis Gans, the director of the study, concluded "People are becoming increasingly disaffected with both parties." Amen. But people are more than disaffected. They are mad as hell. Yet few see a way out of this national morass.

Our political elites and plutocrats can easily ignore low turnout for primaries. But contemplate how a really low turnout for general elections would be treated. Imagine a presidential election with a national turnout of say 20 or 25 percent. Such low eligible voter turnout would publicly de-legitimize our delusional democracy. How could any American president that had a majority of something like 15 percent or less of all eligible voters be viewed as legitimate? Our representative democracy would be seen worldwide as a sham. Many Americans would conclude "enough is enough."

More people must agree that there is nothing sacred about two-party rule. Bipartisanship is just a ploy to make the two-party conspiracy more palatable. Democraps and Republicrooks have a political partnership. Each needs the other to maintain the optical delusion that we have political choices, and that when one fails the people, the other will come to the rescue. We cannot vote our way to national renewal as long as we play according to their status quo rules. Our democracy is choking to death on bipartisan corruption. Only independent-minded Americans can apply a Heimlich maneuver to save it.

Divided, we empower the plutocracy with our money and our votes.

United, we can deliver a peaceful, disobedient and populist Second American Revolution by withholding our money and our votes. We have it in our power to make Thoreau, Gandhi, King and future generations proud of us.

What is true American patriotism today? Our sick democracy needs dissent through disobedience, not our votes, to become healthy.

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Joel S. Hirschhorn is the author of Delusional Democracy - Fixing the Republic Without Overthrowing the Government (www.delusionaldemocracy.com). His current political writings have been greatly influenced by working as a senior staffer for the (more...)

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