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Gatekeeper
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United States of America
Feb 2000
time: 23:20
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Grrr, et al.:
American democracy is not dead.
The last time I checked, I was still able to vote for a variety of candidates at the local, state and national levels. I am able to debate issues privately and in public without being carried off into the night by government thugs, never to be seen again. I am still able to buy a handgun, rifle or shotgun if I were interested in doing so. We do not have government censors in the newsroom where I work. The Internet isn't censored (ala China). I have hundreds of channels on television and radio that I can listen to, encompassing a wide spectrum of material. I can do my errands without having an unmarked government vehicle trail my every move. I haven't had rocks with threatening messages attached to them thrown through my windows. U.S. Army soldiers are still all-volunteer. And they haven't taken to calling themselves stormtroopers the last time I checked. Not a Brown Shirt in sight, either. Insofar as I can tell, the Senate and House in Washington, D.C., have yet to become rubber stamps for the presidency. People can still gather en masse in public to protest.
Admittedly, some of the developments in John Ashcroft's Justice Department have made me worry a wee bit. Some of the pronoucements by Vice President **** Cheney and Press Secretary Ari Fleischer have made me raise my eyebrows (particularly that crap about "watching what you say"). Some of President George "Dubya" Bush's pronouncements and vocabularly have made me wince.
Is it better to have a completely unfettered democracy that, because of its openness and faith in the individual, goes up in a mushroom cloud the next day? Or is it better to maintain democracy with a more pragmatic approach that, admittedly, can leave one eyeing our leaders in a keener fashion (which might be a *good* thing, IMHO)? It's one of those questions that has no easy answer and has been and always will be debated by those whose goverments allow them to do so.
Gatekeeper
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chegitz guevara
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Ft. Lauderdale, FL Communist Party of Apolyton
Jun 2000
time: 00:20
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American republicanism is not dead. Our democratic traditions, however, are almost comatose. The people are disengaged from the process of self-governence, either because they just don't care, or because they don't feel they have an impact. Corporations more or less control the election process, the courts step in to ensure their favorite candidates get in, the parties are more concerned with winning than ensuring the integrity of the process.
However, voting still makes a difference (we get our choice of corporate vetted candidates), we still have the vast majority of our rights, even if they are slowly being eroded. And most places we have referendum laws, which give us the opportunity to try and take back control. There is hope.
In Maine, Arizona, and several other state, public financing of elections has passed, allowing cnadidates who eschew private financing over a certain level a goodly amount of money. In Maine, about 1/3rd of those elected weren't incumbants. 
But let's not be complacent. We have a long way to go before we have a funtioning democratic republic again, and it could always gt worse.
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23-06-2002 00:39
I am not the one empty headed about the welfare of the people. 
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