Friday, November 9, 2007

Polyglot

\POL-ee-glot\, adjective:
1. Containing or made up of several languages.
2. Writing, speaking, or versed in many languages.

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If the class divide is such that a very small percentage of individuals own most of a country’s wealth, we have a capitalist country. If the government panders to the interests and receives monetary sums from the capitalist class, we have a capitalist country. If the rights to information are impinged by the monetary influence of an owning corporation or governmental influence, we have a capitalist country. If the rights to life and liberty become successively undermined by worsening conditions in the class divide, and little is done about it (as higher classes require the manipulation of the lower), we have a capitalist country.

These are some of the most extreme examples—I’m not saying all of them are true in our country, or that, if they are, they’re entirely fulfilled, but certainly all of them will ring bells.

Capitalism and democracy. Can the two coincide? Of course, but on a sliding scale. The more capitalist a country is, the less democratic it becomes. The bigger the class divide, the smaller the equality to rights and free market there actually is. If some votes counts for more because they’re paid for, we’ve lost something democratically essential. I do believe we live in a reasonably definite capitalist country, where democracy is retained but much less potent than it once was or should be.

3 comments:

dizzylizzy said...

Individuals are content to live in a lulled state of falsehood. As long as our perception remains steadfast, few care or want to know what is really happening behind the scenes.

Specific Relativity said...

Somewhat true, but with a referent for how fulfilling that perception is. People do not enjoy delusion for delusion's sake, but rather, entertain fallacies to support a more comfortable reality. Indeed, truth is hard to come by and harder to swallow.

David K. Braden-Johnson said...

Though there are times when comforting illusions are actually beneficial:

http://www.grandtimes.com/Self_Illusions.html