Fossilization usually begins after an organism dies and is buried. If the organism happens to be a democracy, however, you can fossilize yourself. That’s what’s happening in the US and every conservative-infested legislature. The farcical un-election of a Speaker of the House by the GOP is a case in point.
This level of total dysfunction is the norm. Everything is a train wreck. Fiction is doing its usual lousy job of replacing fact, and the facts won’t take the hint. The disasters are piling up on a second-by-second basis, and these are the headlines. If you happen to see any sanity anywhere, say hello. It may be your only chance.
Meanwhile back on The New York Times, (where things sometimes do happen), there’s an innocuous article by Richard H. Pildes about the fringe of the GOP, the kookiest of the kooks. It’s an interesting article. …But not scary, until you notice that it has nothing to do with democracy.
The story is not about the public interest, the national interest, or anything but personal interest. It’s about people using the political system for their own interests. It’s pretty clear that the nation and the public are not included in the narrative or anywhere else.
The NYT article also makes the point that a lot of people have missed – Political parties no longer have actual control over their members. Trump and Johnson proved that some time ago, but now it’s how business is done worldwide. In the US, it’s the Freedom Caucus, a Koch-funded ultraconservative group. In the UK, it’s the European Research Group, the funding of which nobody in British media has bothered to try and find.
The results have been obvious enough. The abysmal Trump “presidency” and the catastrophic, nation-destroying Brexit are the highlights. The fallout is the Much Too Long Goodbye to Trump and the ongoing hyper-decay of Brexit, whichever clown is running it.
There are no ideologies. That’s the biggest lie of all. There never were, except in occasional hearsay. The rhetoric is to go through the motions, and get votes from whoever, whatever, or wherever the idiots may be. The talk is worthless, and nobody has to actually do anything about it. There’s a lot of money up for grabs, not subject to any scrutiny, and everyone wants it. The conservatives, whose one and only party trick is selling public assets to their donors, are the natural avenue for this gold rush.
I still say the US Super PACs are the ideal way to launder money in the billions. Who checks these things, and who wants to check them? This is an unquestioned flow of money to anyone. Better than the music industry and Hollywood. Better still, you can stay at the pigsty trough for decades and be rich, ridiculous and obstructive.
The net takeaway is an empty, directionless, idea-less mess on a global scale. This travesty can be representative of nothing at all. Nor can it manage basic administration, let alone crises.
Rehabilitating the idea of democracy could take decades. Why bother, you ask? Because democracy is the only form of government you can do anything about. The other types of government are just monopolies with different names, and nobody else has any say in what happens. Whether it’s the rates or World War 3, nobody gets a word in.
Democracy at the Smithsonian and the British Museum
Since there is no longer anywhere to put democracy in the US, it’s likely that it will wind up in the Smithsonian. A nice alcove with the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell and a weird-looking flag with 13 stars will be tastefully displayed with a few statues and a mountain nobody remembers with some faces on it. Everything else can go in a few drawers somewhere.
A similar situation will apply in the much-diminished UK, where memorabilia is a long-established industry. The British Empire was at its greatest extent in 1922, and since then has been generating a wonderful array of historic toxic waste. Democracy will fit in snugly among the ruins with the chaos of 1947 in India and Pakistan, the fall of Singapore, and the hideous legacy of Thatcherism. It’ll go well with the Changing of the Paparazzi at Buckingham Palace.
Put it this way – If you want extinction, this is where it’ll happen. “Liberty or death” now translates into “Democracy or death”. Tough call, isn’t it?
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Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
