I’m not disagreeing, but pointing it out because it seems unavoidable.
BBC managed to do the show “Yes, Minister” with contains plenty of political content without saying which ideology the minister happens to have and which party he belongs to.
Quite a lot of what political ideology is about isn’t actual politics but the spectator sport of politics.
“Yes Minister” showed us all that the notion of an ideologue in politics is a fallacy.
Whatever values a person has, those values are constantly compromised and neutered, because the way politics “really” works, is more about compromise based on career goals, not some sort of ideological purity.
Self interest kills idealistic goals.
Bureaucracy and the status quo render idealism untenable.
So, relying on politicians to create significant socioeconomic change in society, and the world, must rely on a person doing an impossible job. There is no point electing a different person to do the same job, if the job is actually impossible.
Economic power is political power.
Wealth equates to political power.
Democracy and Capitalism are incompatible concepts.
The Princeton study didn’t say that the rich have all the power. Both the rich and the poor want performance-based pay for teachers but it doesn’t happen because the teacher’s unions and various unelected bureaucrats in the educational system don’t want it.
Both the Kochs and Soros want to end the war on drugs but the DEA is politically powerful enough that it doesn’t simply get shut off.
Short version:
The lower 90% of citizens on the socioeconomic scale, have absolutely no influence over the actual policies which are enacted by the US government. No matter which party is in power, for the last 40+ years.
BBC managed to do the show “Yes, Minister” with contains plenty of political content without saying which ideology the minister happens to have and which party he belongs to.
Quite a lot of what political ideology is about isn’t actual politics but the spectator sport of politics.
“Yes Minister” showed us all that the notion of an ideologue in politics is a fallacy. Whatever values a person has, those values are constantly compromised and neutered, because the way politics “really” works, is more about compromise based on career goals, not some sort of ideological purity.
Self interest kills idealistic goals.
Bureaucracy and the status quo render idealism untenable.
So, relying on politicians to create significant socioeconomic change in society, and the world, must rely on a person doing an impossible job. There is no point electing a different person to do the same job, if the job is actually impossible.
Economic power is political power. Wealth equates to political power. Democracy and Capitalism are incompatible concepts.
Princeton proved this in 2014. There is no democracy in the US, and there is no particular reason to think any other Western country is particularly different. For your consideration: https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mgilens/files/gilens_and_page_2014_-testing_theories_of_american_politics.doc.pdf
The Princeton study didn’t say that the rich have all the power. Both the rich and the poor want performance-based pay for teachers but it doesn’t happen because the teacher’s unions and various unelected bureaucrats in the educational system don’t want it.
Both the Kochs and Soros want to end the war on drugs but the DEA is politically powerful enough that it doesn’t simply get shut off.
No democracy, really? Or would it be more accurate to say that US democracy falls short of some sort theoretical ideal?
So can you cut to the chase and tell us your solution to all this?
Short version: The lower 90% of citizens on the socioeconomic scale, have absolutely no influence over the actual policies which are enacted by the US government. No matter which party is in power, for the last 40+ years.
So, Democracy does not exist. It isn’t real. It is fake. It is a culturally accepted reality, but not an objective reality.