Radical Democracy by Greg King What is radical democracy? What, for that matter is radical? What is democracy? Well, to be radical generally means to be getting to the root of things. That means, for example, finding out what are the real causes of inequality and enormous differences of wealth or poverty. At least in my, and I know in quite a few others thinking, inequality in any modern society is caused by vast disparities in wealth. Why is this so? Its because wealth buys power. Think of how well the HMOs, the for-profit, even the allegedly non-profit hospital conglomerates, the private health insurance and the pharmaceutical companies fared in the lead up to and in the final product that became the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. They bought every Congressperson and Senator in sight, with a tiny handful of exceptions. The private health insurance companies paid well for incorporating into PPACA the provision that everyone in the country with the exception of Medicaid patients or veterans healthcare recipients (even Medicare now requires a supplemental plan), must sign up for a private health insurance plan or pay a fine every year that they cant provide proof that theyre covered by such a plan. This has made us all hostages of the private health insurance companies. Too strong an assertion that They bought every Congressperson and Senator in sight? Think about it. It doesnt necessarily have to be a conventionally defined bribe in order to buy a politician. It can be a company-paid junket to the Riviera or Phuket. It can also be the donation of huge amounts of money to a politicians campaign coffers. It could be the threat of withholding that money from one campaign and the donation of it to a rival political camp. Thats enough to purchase someone with a lust for power and an eagerness to get their hands in the public till. Thats why single-payer is anathema to these folks. It wont enrich anyone. It will simply mean that everyone in the country has equal access to the same level of genuinely affordable medical care, hopefully nearby and bias-free. Those of us pushing for single-payer are not tycoons. Were ordinary working people. Were nurses, doctors, the unemployed, the homeless if they could become a potent force. So money buys power and enables its possessor to get whatever she wants. On the other hand, it leaves the possessionless with an inability to get anything s/he might want. Not quite, though. The possessionless, the relatively propertyless among us can talk with one another, join together, become part of broad coalitions of progressive people in trade unions, in civil and human rights organizations, in womens, senior and disabled groups and among those of us without papers. The potentially huge numbers of people in such a coalition can lobby, march, demonstrate and commit mass civil disobedience. For example, quite large numbers of people can sit down on Wall Street, the streets of Washington, the halls of Congress and start singing, We shall not, we shall not be moved - - - . Oh, theyll try to move us, alright. They have the army, the police and the courts and will try to thwart our movement. If the politicians and the bankers have seen so very many of us take to the streets, they will definitely be scared and want to extend olive branches in the form of more people-oriented policies and practices. The powers-that-be will no longer think they can get away with doing whatever they want scot-free. Maybe that broad coalition can create an alternative party with lots of grassroots support and, eventually, lots of candidates elected. Then we will have to watch to see that these newly minted tribunes of the people dont spend all their time cooperating with and cajoling the many bought-and-paid-for politicians. Weve got to see that they dont buy into the scenario, Remember the Golden Rule: He who has the gold makes the rules. No, there will be new definitions of power, therell be new goals and new ways of attaining them. Thats only if that broad coalition of ours will have successfully organized the rank-and-file of the armed forces, so they turn those guns around. If the vast majority of servicemen and -women do so, they may very well not have to fire them. Then well be making real the original meaning of democracy - the people rule. (From the ancient Greek demos for people and kratos for rule.) But how do we make sure that the pigs wont look more like humans every day and that the new boss isnt the same as the old boss? By keeping the pressure on from our broad coalition and convincing the peoples politicians to begin devolving power to the local level. That is radical democracy. After breaking up the big banks and investment houses, the mega-corporations, we can and will be well on our way to a new world. It means the workers council in a plant or office, workplace, housing, health care, savings and consumer cooperatives, labor unions, community groups of neighbors have real power in the form of both actions and funds. We can start running our own lives. Sure, therell be kinks to iron out. Sure, therell have to be some mechanism created through which decisions on problems which affect the whole countrywide network of communities, workplaces, etc. can be made. Well never quite reach the perfect social contract, the perfect society. It will always be on the horizon. Its very much worthwhile trying our best to get there, to achieve a radical democracy.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 02:23:41 +0000
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