Some interesting comments on Wikileaks from Chomsky but I consider Wikileaks important for its role in exposing what government is up to rather than its role in democracy.
There has been NO "democracy" on planet Earth since the time of Aristotle! Ancient Athens was the LAST democracy in history.
What is this mass delusion people seem to have that they live under "democracy"? Most of the world including the US live under plutocratic oligarchy. And if you don't, it's a dictatorship of some kind. That's pretty much it. Plutocratic oligarchy or dictatorship. Not democracy... at all. Nada.
Selecting public officials by voting is oligarchy. That's not my opinion but the consensus among ancient Greeks as written by Aristotle in Politics. Selecting public officials by LOTTERY (now called "sortition") from the citizenry is democracy.
The entire purpose of democracy using a lottery system is to maintain the integrity of public institutions. Which it did for the Athenians. And which is WHY there is no democracy in the world today. The inmates are running the prison and they like it that way. With a lottery system they can't control the political institutions.
Remember "election == oligarchy" and "sortition == democracy"... No sortition means no democracy. Do we choose our political officials by sortition? No? Do we have democracy? No, no, no, no and no. We need to stop calling what we have "democracy" because it ain't and just gives the oligarchs legitimacy they don't have.
There has been NO "democracy" on planet Earth since the time of Aristotle! Ancient Athens was the LAST democracy in history.
ReplyDeleteWhat is this mass delusion people seem to have that they live under "democracy"? Most of the world including the US live under plutocratic oligarchy. And if you don't, it's a dictatorship of some kind. That's pretty much it. Plutocratic oligarchy or dictatorship. Not democracy... at all. Nada.
Selecting public officials by voting is oligarchy. That's not my opinion but the consensus among ancient Greeks as written by Aristotle in Politics. Selecting public officials by LOTTERY (now called "sortition") from the citizenry is democracy.
The entire purpose of democracy using a lottery system is to maintain the integrity of public institutions. Which it did for the Athenians. And which is WHY there is no democracy in the world today. The inmates are running the prison and they like it that way. With a lottery system they can't control the political institutions.
Remember "election == oligarchy" and "sortition == democracy"... No sortition means no democracy. Do we choose our political officials by sortition? No? Do we have democracy? No, no, no, no and no. We need to stop calling what we have "democracy" because it ain't and just gives the oligarchs legitimacy they don't have.