Friday, July 15, 2011
Portents of Proxy Process
Someone once remarked that representative democracy is neither. Setting aside for the moment whether our government reflects or causes the calamity we are immersed in, the simple fact we have no say in public policy other than to respond to propaganda and press releases disguised as news, signals our vital vulnerability.
As we watch with horror the bipartisan effort to remove what little safety nets we have in the form of Social Security and Medicare, the notion of future dysfunction being an order of magnitude beyond the present isn't hard to imagine. What is hard to conceive is a route around the current impasse, one that engages our citizenry in direct involvement rather than the failed experiment in governance by proxy.
Portents of the proxy process, as seen in the collapse of social institutions targeted by the WTO, IMF and World Bank, are more than just warning lights requiring our attention; they are sirens demanding our action. Assuming our responsibilities to right these wrongs in the face of full-on fraud means abandoning our childish dreams of peace and prosperity by proxy; it simply isn't going to happen.
As we watch with horror the bipartisan effort to remove what little safety nets we have in the form of Social Security and Medicare, the notion of future dysfunction being an order of magnitude beyond the present isn't hard to imagine. What is hard to conceive is a route around the current impasse, one that engages our citizenry in direct involvement rather than the failed experiment in governance by proxy.
Portents of the proxy process, as seen in the collapse of social institutions targeted by the WTO, IMF and World Bank, are more than just warning lights requiring our attention; they are sirens demanding our action. Assuming our responsibilities to right these wrongs in the face of full-on fraud means abandoning our childish dreams of peace and prosperity by proxy; it simply isn't going to happen.
