Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 39 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing Summarizing
Exclusive to OpEdNews:
OpEdNews Op Eds   
  

Myth of democratic pacifism

By       (Page 2 of 4 pages) Become a premium member to see this article and all articles as one long page.   No comments

Jim Miles
Message Jim Miles
Become a Fan
  (16 fans)

And that is definitely non-democratic, when one introduces the non-democratic corporate powers that harvest the wealth of their business empires in order to primarily enrich the owners first, shareholders second (mostly more wealthy people), and finally to provide as little as possible in the way of wages and benefits for the employees. There is certainly no "peace dividend" from this kind of "willingness of current democracies to share the wealth." Whose wealth is it? Is that American oil under Saudi and Iraqi sands? Are those American bananas imported from Central America?

 

 

Sharing of wealth is a socialist ideal, and a very good one, with the monies being shared in the form of proper wages, proper working conditions, universal education and health care, promotion of strong environmental regulations, child protection laws, women's rights, and on. Socialism can certainly be, and is, very democratic, the failures of Soviet and Chinese communism not withstanding. The supposed "democracies" that make all the money are nominal democracies in that while they certainly provide citizens with the vote, the true power and law making abilities that guarantee the success of the wealthy class and the corporations are held by the corporations themselves and their lobbying powers, and also the desire of various political figures to wield and keep power above and beyond the democratic desires of the people (e.g. most Americans are much more progressive about social issues than their government members who, once voted into power, try as a matter of power to see who can hang onto the public dole of corporate handouts).

 

 

Most rich societies became rich not because of their democratic traits, but because of two other factors. First, they protected their own developing economies with tariffs and other rules and regulations to keep foreign competition out (and till do in many instances) - this is true of the recently demised empires of Europe (Britain, France, Spain, Germany - all supposedly democratic for their time) and the rather cynical empire of democracy that the U.S. is pretending to create. Secondly, is that they are – simply - empires. Empires are not democratic in that they subjugate and exploit other peoples of the world based on their being the 'other': primitives, savages, non-believers, 'evil', whatever excuse the government and corporations can come up with to sanctify their oppression.


Next Page  1  |  2  |  3  |  4

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).

Rate It | View Ratings

Jim Miles Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in


Jim Miles is a Canadian educator and analyst who examines the world through a syncretic lens. His analysis of international and domestic geopolitical ideas and actions incorporates a lifetime of interest in current events, a desire to (more...)
 

Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEdNews Newsletter

Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

Book Review - The Limits of Power

Canada preps for war with Iran

Beyond Fundamentalism - Book Review

Book Review - Bad Samaritans - Ha-Joon chang

Beyond the tipping point

Dismantle the empire - or face insolvency

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend