Republican state leadership throughout this country have embarked on a mission to evicerate voting rights for minorities and the poor in an effort to remain in power. Knowing that fair and open elections would destroy their political party they attempt to suppress the vote and that is about as unAmerican, and antidemocratic, as it gets.
But examine the response to this attack on our democratic republic to discover this countries true power structure. It is the corporate response that has any hope of stopping this - not the will of the people. Rarely does the corporate world allow such a glimpse into their real power. Here is one case. Citizens United put corporations in control. Justice Scalia largely responsible, a true fascist and corporatist, and when endorsed by his court marked the beginning of the end of our democratic republic.
Corporatism can be handy when corporations agree with the people, not so much otherwise. In fact, this form of governance will likely lead to our ultimate doom. Focused on profit and power, it is too short-sided, too self-centered, to tackle our looming, decades long, existential threats - global warming, growing wealth inequality and deepening poverty, and job displacement through automation.
There are four ways out of this that I see - two of which the most likely to occur with quite opposite effect, two more seemingly far fetched, but actually attainable in just a few decades.
1. Limiting political campaigns to 6 months and paying for them entirely with government funds while making it illegal for politicians to work for any company they ever helped while in office. No donations. No job seeking. Legislatures coming to DC interested in actually governing and free to do so within their political restraints.
2. Massive civil unrest and the restructuring of power and economies by force. Millions worldwide could lose their lives in such a struggle and as in all movements would not be guaranteed the results it set out for.
3. The setting in motion of a super general intelligence whose sole purpose is to save us from ourselves.
4 The dissolution of money by fully automating the production of all material goods - to include power production, procuring raw materials, refining, processing, and the distribution of nearly all material goods, as well as the self- repair and improvement of the apparatuses to do so. Once set in motion the goods produced could be distributed for free. What value money then? And without money governments are free to focus on actually governing with no cost constraints. Sounding farfetched its not. It is something we could attain in the next two decades if we organized an international cooperative effort as job one. Our man on the moon within a decade.
