Reinventing Democracy | ZeroHedge

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

The complete level of democracy and free markets is to drive competitors on elites who’re determined to eradicate competitors.

What’s the purpose of discussing reforms that are not even potential within the present established order? That’s query, as any dialogue of main systemic modifications could be dismissed as pointless (since they’re going to by no means be adopted), and a distraction from the “real work” that may be managed inside the present system.

On the opposite hand, we’d ask: what is the level of discussing what’s do-able in the established order, i.e. superficial feel-good coverage tweaks that change nothing within the energy construction? In different phrases, all the pieces is finally a superficial feel-good coverage tweak if it does not change how energy, “money,” credit score and sources are amassed and distributed.

The argument for discussing “impossible” systemic modifications is that this: we should ponder different methods to construction who has energy for 2 causes: 1) to validate how far we descended into neofeudalism and neocolonialism, and thus how desperately we have to re-arrange the ability construction, and a pair of) to discover completely different fashions of governance and financial incentives, with an eye fixed on the worth of competitors between concepts and methods.

Richard Bonugli and I focus on methods to revive or reinvent democracy in our current podcast, The Roundtable Insight Vision Series: Democracy (29:36).

Although this sounds cynical, it is not: democracy shouldn’t be actually about self-rule, it is about preserving an elite-run system secure by institutionalizing a security valve and a governor on elite greed, corruption and mismanagement.

Democracy offers the rabble a restricted voice as a way of limiting elite misrule, which is the pure path taken by elites in every single place, in all eras. The elite echo-chamber is: we’re entitled (by beginning, rights granted by the gods, superior intelligence, benefit, and so forth.) to rule, and subsequently no matter we resolve is wise–even whether it is self-serving and delusional.

Other fashions of governance depend on competitors between elites to maintain whichever elite is presently dominant from destroying the entire association by way of their hubris, narcissism, greed, corruption, stupidity, delusions of grandeur and all the opposite pathologies of energy.

These fashions are likely to fail as a result of the dominant elite tends to see eliminating opponents as an excellent technique for consolidating energy–just like companies all the time search monopolies or cartel preparations to eradicate the pesky dangers of open competition–which as everyone knows, introduces the potential for dropping, which a nasty factor. To eradicate the potential for dropping, eradicate competitors: what a wonderful resolution!

This is why “capitalism” is not actually about free markets, any greater than colonialism is about “civilizing the natives;” it is all about eliminating competitors and rigging markets. In this fashion, “capitalism” and democracy are an ideal partnership, as every claims a noble cloak to obscure the precise equipment of elite self-service.

The power of democracy in system phrases is it introduces a suggestions loop that serves to restrict systemically harmful extremes, for instance, a dictatorship that requires everybody to put on their underwear on the skin of their clothes, or (ahem) a system like ours that has boiled away social mobility and monetary safety, leaving a rapaciously exploitive machine that feeds off persuading poor individuals to borrow much more cash to persuade themselves that they are not poor and powerless.

The rich personal the income-producing capital, the poor “own” debt: the rich personal the mortgage / auto mortgage / pupil mortgage, the poor owe the mortgage / auto mortgage / pupil mortgage. Funny how neofeudalism works: the monetary aristocracy is within the fort, protected by the Central State, and the debt-serfs are toiling away down there, protected by, properly, nobody. But by all means, vote on your favourite actor on the tawdry side-stage erected to amuse the general public: what thrives, what emotion, what comedy.

(Please pardon the outburst of “truthiness.” I’ll attempt to not let it occur once more.)

If democracy is boiled away, the one pressure-relief valve and governor-on-greed left is messy rebellion or a messy rebellion plus the wholesale abandonment of the established order by the technocrat class that retains the entire thing glued collectively (what I name opting out).

The prime directive in governance is to all the time, all the time, all the time centralize energy to increase the attain of the elite presently on the wheel, and to restrict the variety of grubby arms making an attempt to succeed in the wheel. Centralizing political energy makes life significantly simpler for elites, as they solely have to bribe, blackmail or persuade a handful of oldsters on the high to cement their energy / monopoly /cartel.

I focus on this in my ebook Resistance, Revolution, Liberation.

Consider the difficulties of cementing a quasi-monopoly on banking if banking have been restricted to the county degree. The would-be cartel grifters must bribe, blackmail or persuade 3,000+ county councils, all of whom are far nearer to voters and way more uncovered to competitors than federal regulators or the Federal Reserve or Congress-critters, who as everyone knows, are re-elected like clockwork besides in just a few circumstances which are mainly sign noise.

This illustrates the worth of Subsidiarity in a democracy, with Subsidiarity outlined as “the principle that a central authority should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which cannot be performed at a more local level.”

The Subsidiarity precept solely works in a democracy if capital can be democratized. What’s conveniently forgotten or left unsaid is: capital all the time “votes” 3 times.

1) Capital’s beneficiaries, allies and staff will vote to maintain their gravy practice operating;

2) Capital influences the general public with advert campaigns and public relations, all of that are fairly reasonably priced;

3) Capital influences the political / regulatory energy gamers in non-public, a.ok.a. lobbying, revolving doorways between companies and the political/regulatory companies, junkets, farcically bloated talking charges, and so forth.

The solely potential conclusion: if we do not democratize capital, democracy is boiled away. I want this might be sugarcoated, but it surely’s very similar to my different aphorism: if we do not change the best way cash is created and distributed, we have change nothing.

In different phrases, if we do not change the cash/credit score system and democratize capital, then all we’ll ever have is extra superficial feel-good coverage tweaks: all sound and fury, signifying nothing.

There are methods to re-structure the system to revive / reinvent democracy. Ellen Brown has made a persuasive case for public / group banking for a few years, and the identical concept could be utilized to private-sector corporations: How Community Companies Can Smash Monopolies (by way of Sadie).

It appears unimaginable at this level to decentralize energy and capital, however with the pressure-relief valve and governor-on-greed of democracy each disabled, the system is beginning to shake aside on the seams. I’ve typically mentioned the varied lessons and elites jostling for energy within the U.S., and it is potential some elite would possibly awaken to the need to revive the chance that these with the overwhelming majority of wealth and energy would possibly truly lose, i.e. restore actual competitors within the economic system and our system of governance.

This competitors begins with the competitors of concepts. That’s the purpose of our dialogue on Democracy (29:36), which covers many different fascinating concepts for decentralizing / reinventing democracy.

Where to start out? Here: the entire level of democracy and free markets is to drive competitors on elites who’re determined to eradicate competitors.

(by way of Ok.Ok.)

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