And, as always with transitions of power, the old powers did not simply steal away into the night. Those old powers of ruling elites, whether they were monarchs and aristocrats, economic elites, political elites or military elites, were not willing to forgo their past dominance, in order to allow ordinary citizens to make the ruling decisions. Those elites fought back with all their entrenched power and guile to maintain control under the pretense of being a democracy. Even very authoritarian regimes existed under the flag of democracy.
Even in this nation, the rich and powerful retained considerable power and control of the direction of this nation. Only with outside threats was the idealism of democracy called upon as a source of unity and patriotism to support wars and provide the citizen-soldiers to fight those wars.
It was only because of the overreach of the economic elite, leading to the Great Depression, that power slipped from the grasp of that economic elite and found a new champion in FDR with his New Deal programs and immense popular support. It was also the rise of an intellectual elite, helpful when it worked for the good of the citizenry but hiding an eventual hubris of putting mind over heart.
Resurgence of the Economic Elite
By the end of the 1940s the economic elite had regrouped and began to reassert control over the governance of this nation, helped enormously by the foreign policies of the Cold War years.
Even with a brief resurgence of democratizing energy during the Kennedy years, in an era ending with three assassinations, did the economic elite reassert itself into dominance once again with Nixon and the politicizing of the American Chamber of Commerce with the Powell Memorandum. From then on, the slide toward economic solutions, secrecy and the military continued until our present situation.
We have watched the tax code being gutted to benefit the economic elite, until we can no longer find enough funding for necessary social programs and basic community needs, while developing an enormous income inequality (antithetical to democracy), and a growing billionaire class. All of this has led to a political system based on money, pushing out those who cannot pay to play.
We have watched the decline of labor unions, only recently seeing some resurgence. We have watched the privatization of public services. We have watched the growth of military spending, not to mention our funding of secrecy (NSA, CIA) and covert operations. Our military spending is now larger than the combined spending of the next 5 nations, including Russia and China.
We cannot continue to exist as a viable democracy supporting a weakening democracy at home while we are far from anything resembling democracy in our foreign policies; especially, when that foreign policy direction is so financially supportive of the very corporations and billionaire class that is skewing our domestic politics to make authoritarian leadership look like a viable option.
The Necessary Bargain and a Mandate
We need to make it clear that a vote for Joe Biden, while a clear vote for democracy over authoritarianism, cannot be construed as any kind of mandate for our current foreign policy directions, especially in Gaza. It needs to be clear that such a vote can only represent a clear mandate for a major pivot toward a more humanized and democratically focused foreign policy. It needs to be clear that it is a mandate based on a strong belief in human rights, and the rights of self-determination for all nations without our meddling.
To make this bargain requires that we let go or our past sins as a nation, including our shameful role in Gaza. In return we need a clear promise of a new foreign policy direction, a direction that reflects a return to the positive international role that we have provided in the past, supporting a path for citizens of the world in their desire for the equality and human values that democracy promises.
I am basically an optimist, but I am not holding my breath for such a change to be allowed by the powers that be.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
