A call for a NEW way for self government in our communities and in our work places....A Social and Economic Democracy!
The Need for Social Ownership
A studied reflection on what is at the core of the social turmoil we call poverty, crime, racism, the environmental question, and the vicious Congressional divisions in government, can be narrowed to one, and only one cause; the structure and use of our political form of goivernment, and our autocratic, corporate controlled economy.
It should be clear to everyone by now that the present system has failed to to sustain a consistently prosperous, peaceful and harmonious society. In fact, the opposite is true.
Think about it. Many of us have been pauperized. We fight among ourselves and with other countries. We have little or no real decision-making role in a government which has become an open political battlefield for the economic system's most powerful corporations and their chief beneficiaries to the exclusion of our everyday living needs.
Right now we are headed for a societal and global holocaust.. As a people we have been led into wars abroad, and now the wars have been visited upon us by people most of us have never met, and have never personally harmed or injured in any way. To passively witness our own destruction, and to deny the real reasons why it is happening, is to condemn ourselves and future generations to a drab, worry-laden, welfare ridden future of physical and mental impoverishment.
We can do something about it.
The Rationale for Social Ownership
To begin to call for the building of a sensible, new system in which we have real input and actual control of our lives, we start here the necessary beginnings of a vital, broad-based national discussion for a reconstruction of our society on a sound, rational base starting at the ground floor of our economic organization.
A new social direction is needed to replace this present one which has been breaking down periodically and dramatically ever since the advent of the Industrial Revolution. We need genuine democratic institutions which We, the People, the citizen majority, can democratically use to serve our societal and individual needs and wants. Social ownership of our needed industries and services is the most logical answer.
Our emphasis is on codifying genuine democratic principles into our existing socially necessary institutions. We are not talking about so-called "Communism," or the popular understandings of "socialism."
We are not advocating any form of STATE ownership of our national industrial assets in which the administration and operation of our work places is governed from the top down.
In the realm of ethical morality, social ownership of our industrial complex, social ownership is natural and just.
Social ownership is natural because We, the People, operate our socially-operated industrial tools, the foremost instruments we, as a cooperative society, now have for societal survival in the modern industrial world. By virtue of their critical need by the whole society, it becomes imperative that these are not misused for narrow, short term private gain by any minority, as is now the reality.
Social ownership is just because it is compatible with the fair, universally-accepted axiom: that is, the product belongs to those who make it. Since the majority of society's citizenry is of our working class, and since it is our class which has created, and operates the industrial wheels of necessary social production to provide the goods and services required for us to function as we do, it becomes a simple matter of elementary justice that our industrial tools be owned, controlled, administered and democratically operated by those who work them.
I couldn't agree more with everything you have said about the principles underlying the nature of a true democracy. It is also obvious that such a democracy has never existed, not even in the U.S. The problem I see with this idealistic proposal is that it does not take into account that we are dealing with a gang of criminals - pathological deviants - in power who have no intention whatsoever of relinquishing that power. Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters? It seems that very few people understand the sheer depth and magnitude of the powers they're up against. You really need to read "Political Ponerology."
It might be quite educational also to read Laura Knight-Jadczyk's take on the so-called 9-11 Truth Movement in this regard, especially where she gets down to brass tacks at the end, writing:
"... consider what Paul Craig Roberts wrote about Bush's illegal spying...
Bush's acts of illegal domestic spying are gratuitous because there are no valid reasons for Bush to illegally spy. The Foreign Intelligence Services Act gives Bush all the power he needs to spy on terrorist suspects. All the administration is required to do is to apply to a secret FISA court for warrants. The Act permits the administration to spy first and then apply for a warrant, should time be of the essence. The problem is that Bush has totally ignored the law and the court.
Why would President Bush ignore the law and the FISA court? It is certainly not because the court in its three decades of existence was uncooperative. According to attorney Martin Garbus (New York Observer, 12-28-05), the secret court has issued more warrants than all federal district judges combined, only once denying a warrant.
Why, then, has the administration created another scandal for itself on top of the WMD, torture, hurricane, and illegal detention scandals?
There are two possible reasons.
One reason is that the Bush administration is being used to concentrate power in the executive. The old conservative movement, which honors the separation of powers, has been swept away. Its place has been taken by a neoconservative movement that worships executive power.
The other reason is that the Bush administration could not go to the FISA secret court for warrants because it was not spying for legitimate reasons and, therefore, had to keep the court in the dark about its activities.
What might these illegitimate reasons be? Could it be that the Bush administration used the spy apparatus of the US government in order to influence the outcome of the presidential election?
Could we attribute the feebleness of the Democrats as an opposition party to information obtained through illegal spying that would subject them to blackmail?
When Roberts suggests:
"Could it be that the Bush administration used the spy apparatus of the US government in order to influence the outcome of the presidential election? "
... he doesn't really go the full distance.
What if the illegal spying is to gain complete control of government and judiciary? Everybody has dirty laundry, and if you have that information, you can control about anything. The only people you can't control are those who are "clean" and we can guess from the way things are going in the U.S. and UK, just about everybody is "dirty."
Americans turned out in record numbers to vote in the last presidential election. They NEVER do that unless they are unhappy with the status quo. The exit polls and evidence of vote tampering suggests strongly that Bush did not win the election... (which is not to say that Kerry was any better choice!)
So, not only do they have control of congress and the judiciary, they also control the votes... As Stalin said, it's not who votes that counts, it's who counts the votes. And with control of congress and the judiciary AND the support of the Israeli owned media, there is NO possibility of them being made accountable for ANY of their crimes.
So, considering the cards that the Neocons are holding in terms of illegal spying, I think we need to be realistic and understand that even the next election is not going to change anything."
"I've said it before and I'll say it again: the first order of business for any society suffering oppression that seeks to dig their way out of such a mess is to take back the media. The mass media should belong to the people and should answer only to the people. Does that sound Socialistic? Well, yeah. Fact is, Socialism seems to be a heck of a lot more democratic in many respects than the much vaunted American Capitalism which has led the U.S. into the State Corporatism trap of Soviet style Communism."
So it seems that the very first thing that has to be considered and planned is taking back the mass media. You can do NOTHING ELSE without doing that first.
by
Bonnee (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 12 comments)
on Sunday, March 2, 2008 at 7:28:02 AM
Take it a just half a step further. If "we the people" want a true news media of our own. We could build and support our own. Taking or taking back a network or media implies something the use of some type of force, be it socio / economic, (which is OK by me), physical (not so OK if its violent), Political (not very likely), or simply parallel competition, creating a new media or media network (ideal) and may result in taking back a network that has now economicaly failed and refurbish it. Now resulting in two! So far the computer seems to be the way. Possibly Low Power Multi community FM might help us out too. ... Will close by saying "I never met a profit that a corporation didnt worship".
by
Brad (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 27 comments)
on Sunday, March 2, 2008 at 7:59:48 PM
Thanks for pointing out what had to be said and seems to be overlooked in this upcoming election. We don't live in a democracy now. We live under a totalitarian government that holds elections in order to keep everyone happy and feel like they are taking part in government. Bread and Circus, that's all it is.
I googled Laura Knight-Jadczyk 9-11 truth movement and found her blog. Not sure if that's what you were talking about, but it was hair raising, to say the least. Thanks for that.
The current administration has stolen two elections and there is strong evidence that 9-11 was an inside job. Why in heaven's name would we think that the folks in power would allow a real democracy in this country?
by
Joey Barnaficase (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 2 comments)
on Sunday, March 2, 2008 at 9:26:02 PM
Our needs and wants…economic prosperity, self government, individual freedoms, are no different from those of our ancestors, and especially those who resisted tyranny of all sorts, and only through determination and cooperation with like minded people, were they to achieve their goals. They knew it would not be easy, but they persevered. And our ancestors had much greater obstacles in their roads to their own promised lands. They had NO “legal” avenues through which to work, as we do. They had to confront and deal with immediate physical sufferings and death at the hands of their tormentors. The oppressive population controls during olden periods of slavery and Feudal times, as there still exists in many of today’s societies, were managed through fear, intimidations and ultimate destruction of human life for those who resisted their oppressors. Humanity has made significant strides toward the elimination of such horrors.
Our own U.S. Constitution is a historical landmark which illustrates just how far humanity has advanced in the resolution of societal proclaims using civilized and peaceful methods.
We need not depend on the present cadre of politicians who own their Congressional and Executive seats of legislative empowerment to the society’s richest citizens and the privately owned corporations which control our economic and service needs.
We, the People, CAN elect OUR OWN Reps to the Congress, and from there, begin the process of Amending the laws of the land to conform with the constructs of the Social and Economic Democracy which are presented in the call from People for a New Society, whose communications center can be accessed at: http://www.peopleforanewsociety.org/
This can be achieved with ORGANIZATION..., political organization, which is the way to send to Congress like minded people who will serve our interests by using the Amendment Clause to transform our institutions into the democracy we need.
ONLY by ourselves organizing can this be done. We CAN get together. We have the core of a political movement. New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio and Minnesota communities have already started.
Organization begins with aligning with folks like ourselves in our communities and invite them to become aware of the possibilities…, and we will grow into the necessary numbers to use the legal process and the real changes we want and need will become a reality. This is how movements begin.
Once people of all working stripe become aware that democracy in their workplaces is a distinct possibility…, and organization is simply meeting people with like minds…, the movement grows. It’s an exciting time to be alive. All doors for real change are ajar, just waiting for us to open and walk through to a new freedom which We, the People, have never enjoyed.
The door is open. Reminds of a story by one of our American icons, Artemis Ward..., about a man, any man…, in jail for many years for a crime he never committed, constantly thought of a way to be free. He stared and stared at his cell door, and dreamed of the day he would walk out and leave behind the walls that oppressed his every minute there. Then one day, he stood before the jail door, nudged it…, saw it become ajar…, pushed it further, and lo! It opened! And he walked out, a free man.
The story is analogous to our own plight today. This system is our jailer. We have the KEY to our liberation , and a path before us pointed out in the web…http://www.peopleforanewsociety.org/
Rather dwell on about the insurmountable task before us…, let’s arm ourselves , with an ideology which will bring real democracy to our lives…, and politically, with the credo…, “When there are enough of us…, Truth will overcome Power.”
by
Wally (5 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 11 comments)
on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 at 10:03:00 PM
Hmmmm? How to stop fraud in elections. About two years ago I put some thought to it and came up with this. I welcome any comments pmsinva2@hotmail.com
“A Better Election System” By Paul Magill Smith 3-8-2K6
“To begin with, in the United States there must be a powerful demolition of the old political order: We need elections where all votes are cast and counted. The campaign against voter repression is the essential civil rights struggle of our time, even though most progressives don’t seem to realize it yet. Prevailing will require fundamental reform such as the introduction of nationwide vote-by-mail (the Oregon system). Without that, and also many relentless prosecutions, nothing else will be achieved”.—JAMES K. GALBRAITH March 30, 2006 “Taming Global Capitalism Anew”—(April 17, 2006 issue of The Nation Magazine) James K. Galbraith, chair of the board of Economists for Peace and Security, teaches at the University of Texas and is senior scholar with the Levy Economics Institute
The latest round of corruption in our government stems from the biggest executive crime of all. In collusion with the Supreme Court our glorious president/dictator/tyrant “stole” the election of 2000, with another criminal (Tom DeLay) “stole” a majority in the house through re-districting, and with corporate henchmen in Diebold & Company “stole” another presidency in 2004. Whether you agree with the presidential election results or not there were statistical anomolies, and thousands of citizen complaints that should have required greater scrutiny & inquiry.
Since the 2000 presidential election our national coffers have been looted to the tune of trillions of dollars, and with almost three more years to go in this theocratic oligarchy there is still much more damage to come. Our financial ruin, through an unsustainable balance of trade deficit, massive fiscal deficits, and a consolidation of wealth in the hands of a few individuals & corporations, bodes ill for generations of Americans to come—IF there are generations to come after the effects of global warming, a state of perpetual global war, and depleted uranium have their way with us.
A bleak picture-yes-but there is cause for hope. Going under the assumption most Americans have a streak of common sense, and an inbred respect for ‘the rule of law’, the first step toward retrieving our now stolen democracy is restoring honesty to our electoral process. Accountability, verifiability, and transparency are not luxuries; they are necessities if democracy in America (the world) is to be viable.
With these considerations in mind I propose an entirely new election system for this country. It uses, for the most part, existing equipment & technology already in place throughout the entire country, and would only require the development of some software. Election expenses would be reduced, election theft would become a thing of the past, and national referendums on key issues would become a possibility. The ‘will of the people’ would become king, instead of the preferences of King George/Dick/Karl/Donald/ etc.
So here is the idea. Currently in the US there are 368,000 ATM machines. They are easy to use (even from a car), provide a paper trail, accessible by use of a card with security features, and very accurately keep track of billions of transactions every month (a 1% accuracy error, which is acceptable for most elections, would land bankers out of their jobs & very likely jailed).
OK, so the first part deals with voting at ATM’s, except when they are being used for elections they would become AVM’s (Automatic Voting Machines).
The issue of verifiability would be very simple also. Since each registered voter would receive their own magnetic credit-card type, individually numbered card (requiring a personalized identification number-PIN-to make it work), each voter would have a specific number, and security that they were the only one who had the secret code to access the AVM.
Following an election their unique number, along with the way their vote was recorded would be published in the local paper & on the internet at a specific site. Since all the voter numbers could be placed in numerical order it would be easy to scan down the list to your number and verify your vote was cast for the person you wanted it to be.
If it was an election with candidates in a number of positions your vote would read as a multi-character number. An example would be 1324113 in which you voted for 7 different people for as many electable posts. The AVM would have given you a hard copy receipt to be used to verify against the posted list.
ATM’s are already linked to central computers, so collection of the total votes from all the machines should present very little problem. Election officials would be necessary at these institutions to verify all the votes were retrieved, but the elimination of officials at each precinct polling place would eliminate much of the costs of holding elections as with our current system.
As a further dis-incentive to election fraud, caused by computer tampering, if a certain percentage or number of voters provide their AVM receipt to election officials, and their vote code doesn’t match that of the central computers, the election results are AUTOMATICALLY declared void, resulting in a new election.
Since I have only begun thinking & writing about this new system I am sure there are many details to be considered and worked out. The bottom line is the current election system is broken, with millions of Americans lacking confidence in the extant election process & results.
As the world’s oldest democracy, holding our ‘system’ up as a model for budding or want-to-be democracies around the globe, it behooves us to make sure our own system is the best we can possibly make it, and the one others will wish to emulate. “Do as I say” is not good enough. If America is to ‘talk the talk’ we must ‘walk the walk’ also.
Paul Magill Smith Richmond, VA
by
Paul Magill Smith (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 18 comments)
on Sunday, March 2, 2008 at 5:28:57 PM
