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GUNNY G: “GENUINE” DEMOCRACY VS. REPUBLIC: ANOTHER VALID VIEW…

July 11, 2012 Leave a comment Go to comments

GUNNY G: DEMOCRACY VS.  REPUBLIC: ANOTHER VALID VIEW…

The Ruling Faction of America’s Revolutionaries was thoroughly Anti-Democratic.

…..For Americans, there is still one more conceptual barrier to acceptance of genuine democracy. Some founding fathers were genuine democrats, but the winning faction falsely (and self-servingly) equated democracy with mob rule.

Americans are taught to admire the revolutionary founders of their republic.  Americans are not, however, often reminded how averse some of these founders were to the Bill of Rights, how they proceeded to betray their countrymen by establishing the Rothschild-controlled First Bank of the United States.

Most of us have forgotten, or never knew how brutally suppressed popular uprisings, and how close they came, during the Adams presidency, to establishing a dictatorship.

These betrayals have been glossed over by the official record, so Americans find it hard to believe that such courageous, principled, and brilliant men chose a second-best political system for their contemporaries and descendants.

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Athenian Democracy

Some of the advantages of genuine democracy are immediately apparent.  Unlike contemporary western republics, in Athens promises to the people could not be as readily broken, for the people were always in charge.  Influential Athenians (especially the oligarchic variety) were just as bribable as their contemporary western counterparts, but in a system where real power, at any given moment, resided with the citizenry, the damage was more limited. 

The information system in Athens was never taken over by the oligarchs.  Athenians breathed cleaner air, drank chemical-free water, and ploughed healthier soils for their sustenance; their schools were private (not state-run), and they exercised daily; they were thus in better mental and physical shape than contemporary Americans. 

Hence, in Athens, human beings came close to their truer intellectual, artistic, and civic potential.  In a genuine democracy like Athens, dissident organizations could not be readily co-opted, elections and trials could not be as readily rigged, and politically-motivated assassinations were rare.  

Overall, the Athenian system served the public interest far better than American oligarchy.

The ancient Greeks recognized the link between genuine democracy and greatness.  The historian Herodotus, himself not an Athenian, clearly perceived the causal connection between freedom and excellence.

“Thus did the Athenians increase in strength. And it is plain enough, not from this instance only, but from many everywhere, that freedom is an excellent thing; since even the Athenians, who, while they continued under the rule of tyrants, were not a whit more valiant than any of their neighbors, no sooner shook off the yoke than they became decidedly the first of all.

These things show that while undergoing oppression they let themselves be beaten since then they worked for a master; but as soon as they got their freedom, each man was eager to do the best he could for himself. So fared it now with the Athenians.”

Pericles, an influential Athenian before and during the Peloponnesian War, put it this way:

“Our political system does not compete with institutions which are elsewhere in force. We do not copy our neighbors, but try to be an example.  Our administration favors the many instead of the few: this is why it is called a democracy. 

The laws afford equal justice to all alike in their private disputes, but we do not ignore the claims of excellence.  When a citizen distinguishes himself, then he is preferred to the public service, not as a matter of privilege, but as a reward of merit; and poverty is no bar. . . The freedom we enjoy extends also to ordinary life; we are not suspicious of one another, and do not feel called upon to nag our neighbor if he chooses to go his own way. . .

But this freedom does not make us lawless.  We are taught to respect the magistrates and the laws, and never to forget that we must protect the injured.  And we are also taught to observe those unwritten laws whose sanction lies only in the universal feeling of what is right. . .”

“Our city is thrown open to the world; we never expel a foreigner. . . We are free to live exactly as we please, and yet are always ready to face any danger. . . We love beauty without becoming extravagant, and we cultivate the intellect without lessening our resolution. . . To admit one’s poverty is no disgrace with us; but we consider it disgraceful not to make an effort to avoid it. 

An Athenian citizen does not neglect public affairs when attending to his private business. . . We consider a man who takes no interest in the state not as harmless, but as useless; and although only a few may originate a policy, we are all able to judge it.  We do not look upon discussion as a stumbling block in the way of political action, but as an indispensable preliminary to any wise action at all…..

EXCERPT

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/07/08/how-and-why-deomcracy-is-failing-us-badly/

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  1. Gunny G
    July 11, 2012 at 4:22 PM | #1
    Quote

    Most patriot/libertarian, etc. writers always are quick to point out that we are a Republic NOT a democracy–all well and good! and, most readers do indeed need to be “schoolhoused” on this point!

    This article, however, presents some very valid points on this topic, and needs to be widely distributed, I think…but wahadda i know…

    It’s a “keeper” though, and I intend to rathole it away, and hoping Zemanta keeps it posted to my posts as a “related article”.

    Semper Watching !
    ******

  2. Gunny G
    July 12, 2012 at 9:53 AM | #2
    Quote
  3. papuabooks
    September 7, 2012 at 12:24 PM | #3
    Quote

    Reblogged this on Papua Books's Blog.

  1. July 11, 2012 at 7:43 PM | #1
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