Forum Post: Consensus in the Real World...Is our Current System Really Broken?
Posted 12 years ago on Jan. 6, 2012, 9:46 p.m. EST by hchc
(3297)
from Tampa, FL
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
It has crossed my mind many times at GAs, what happens to GAs when the general population is involved. Or even 1%?
Im pretty sure that when the settlers started coming over here, consensus was the name of the game. But as more and more people came, and things became more and more complex, there was a need to appoint certain people to figure certain things out. Hence....representatives..
So....
Is the current system really broken? Or has the general population simply gotten lazy?
Man this is a really good question, and my hat's off to you for asking it, because it is the really painful questions that we must ask ourselves if we are going to succeed, and you don't get a lot of kudo's for asking them.
This is the question I have been grappling with for a long time myself. Another way of putting it is this: "How do you save a democracy from corruption when the majority have been propogandized into believing that the corrupt system is essentially sound?"
When I frame that question in that way, I must say that I am left feeling perplexed. The more exclusive we become, obviously, the more isolated - the more inclusive, the more we run the risk of ideological dissolution because so many American's just don't really know what he hell is going on.
This is why, lacking any better solution, I have advocated working both within the system, by trying to push the Democratic Party to the left, and without the system with protests, boycotts and other methods of non-cooperation. The point is, that given the very significant point you make in this post, we must fight this battle on all fronts.
People don't fundamentally change, we have the same energy and drive to survive and succeed that we've always had. If we weren't resilient as a species, we would have died out long ago. The real question is where is all that people energy being directed.
Mass consumerism. Why? What do we measure as a nation? GDP? Why do we only measure how much stuff, gross domestic product, we make and think this is a good idea?
If we really want to change the track of this nation, it would be a good idea to look at the source where we all put our energy.
What might change if we started measuring other things and directed our efforts toward other goals?
http://occupywallst.org/forum/should-we-be-demanding-an-alternative-measure-to-g/
If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks…will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered…. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs. – Thomas Jefferson in the debate over the Re-charter of the Bank Bill (1809)
the system is broken beyond repair.
And so are the people
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representative were also necessary as communication was limited by travel
The general population has gotten lazy. The faith of our forefathers than we would put in the effort required for self-governance may have been misplaced. They were flying in the face of Plato and the ideas that he presented in "The Republic" where he observed that the average man simply lacks the time and interest in the affairs of state to self-govern and would be best governed by a ruling class trained and raised in the spirit of public service.
We the People simply don't put any effort into self governance whether it be in the political realm (Democratic Republic) or economic realm (Capitalism). Both require we make thoughtful decisions when casting our votes.
ABout two months back, and NYU journalism student asked me for my observations of OWS this far. My three part response at http://occupywallst.org/forum/one-percenter-ready-to-join-if/#comment-295977 highlights my concern for the fact that few seem willing or able to praticipate in our Democracy as our Founders hoped.
My post at http://www.themultitude.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&p=4356&sid=e773d1a6a704d9ef06ab96092664c081#p4356 discusses how we are also very poor at casting or economic "votes."
I tell my children that that great experiment in self-governance is yet young on the grand sweep of history, and that it is not yet clear whether the experiment will succeed. I see much here that encourages me, but I also see much that causes me to worry.
"Consensus" This : http://documentarystorm.com/inside-job/ and understand that even if you are getting lazy, the Parasitic 0.01% are getting busy robbing us all, whilst using The 1% to bully, cajole and convince The 99% that 'Hoover Up Kaputalism (because where is the 'Trickle Down Capitalism' these days ?!) is "The Natural Consequence of The "Free Market" and is morally right and for our own good !!!
fiat lux ...
Um.....Ok....?
Gotta love shadz66 and his latin proverbs... :)
in vino veritas ? ;-)
Jawohl, mein Herr! PROSIT!
Prosit ! Ausgezeichnet und Wunderbar !! Freiheit und Zusammenhalt fur Alles !!! Tschuss ;-)
Im going with the people have fallen asleep at the wheel. And unfortuntely they will turn to the TV to try to wake up.
I say that the "falling asleep" was largely unintentional, as most falling asleep at the wheel usually is. We just need the time to wake up, which means stopping the pseudo-slavery that society works at today. This might be accomplished through implementing Social Credit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Credit Yes, I'm plugging. So be it.