Like many, I have been concerned that Democracy is not working very well these days. After a considerable amount of reading, discussion, and quite contemplation on the subject, I have concluded that “democracy may not be broken after all”.
Democracy works between the two extremes of Dictatorship or Theocracy and Extreme Socialism or Communism. Democracy is the swing of the pendulum between these extremes. Usually quite small movements back and forth around the centre, but sometimes more substantial movements left or right of centre. But never reaching the extremes. When democracy is functioning well, there is a fairly peaceful transition of power during these movements. Another analogy could be the movement of tides in and out - very cleansing. A defining feature of the extremes is that they will do anything to maintain power. They will not allow the pendulum to swing away from their position of power. Corruption is present in all forms of government, even in the best democracies. Typically corruption is lower in democracies but these lower levels only occur with the help of robust systems of justice and law with many checks and balances built in. Transparency is a key element of checks and balances. Some of us are feeling a bit nervous about the more dramatic swings of the pendulum we have seen recently with Brexit, the US Presidential election, and other populist movements around the world. But we need to remind ourselves that these swings are still within the definition of democracy. The tidal swings are rather high these days, and although high tides can be damaging in some respects, they also cause other forms of renewal. While we have to build defences against the ravages of high tides, we also have to embrace the renewal and change that they can bring. Likewise, with more dramatic swings of the political pendulum, we have to guard against distortions in the system. One such distortion occurred when Republicans refused to hold hearings for the appointment of a new Supreme Court judge during the last year of President Obama’s term. They wanted to entrench their power by such a move. Actions by any political party aimed at entrenching their power long beyond their term are distortions of the democratic system of government, and we have to continually remind our politicians that we the voters do not want this. It is enticing to support one’s favoured political party when they engage in such actions, but we must remind ourselves that a healthy democracy depends on swings in the pendulum. A democracy caught in ever escalating distortions will hurt everyone in the end. The role that social media, and even traditional media, has played in recent political changes in the world is new. It has caused distortions with things like manipulative algorithms, “echo chambers”, and “false news”. But this is not a failure of democracy. It is a failure of media and our educational and social systems. We have not taught ourselves or our children how to be smart consumers of media and importantly to be smart and respectful contributors to media. So at the end of the day, I have to conclude that democracy may not be broken after all, even though I don’t like some of the things are happening. It does reinforce the need for everyone to become better consumers of and contributors to the media which includes learning how to be respectful. And equally important, everyone should become more engaged in political processes. Only then will we be able to keep democracy from becoming broken.
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There is an ongoing debate amongst historians as to when Globalization actually started. Some argue it started when Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas, and yet others argue it started long before then. 1750 is cited as the start of “modern waves of globalization”.
There is no question however that globalization had a significant uptick after WWII with the most significant growth occurring with the advent of the technological era in the late 1900’s. However you define globalization, it has never been a smooth progression. There have been periods when globalization actually appeared to have declined. There are wide-ranging debates about the pros and cons of globalization, however, I am going to focus on one clear benefit - the expansion of economic activity facilitated by trade deals around the world due largely to globalization. What Donald Trump and his administration do not seem to understand it that this aspect of globalization helped lift over a billion out of poverty and into middle classes in countries all around the world. It is a form of wealth distribution that benefits all parties. The US now has the potential of over a billion new global customers. The US has benefited from low cost technology (from global manufacturers) which has helped it grow and become even wealthier (albeit poorly distributed within the US which is now a source of many problems for them). Donald Trump and his administration is trying to preserve jobs which are going to be lost to rapid developments in technology. The majority of jobs in the USA today did not even exist 50 years ago and that change is just going to quicken. What Donald Trump and his administration should be doing is focusing on educating people in a way that allows them to benefit from the rapid and disruptive changes in jobs due to technology. The USA should be focusing on developing industries that will create these future jobs, many of which could benefit from open global markets. As it is, Donald Trump is focused on tearing up trade deals and building walls, both of which will cut off the USA from dramatically increasing global markets as more and more people rise out of poverty and into the middle classes. In many respects, the USA is no longer “great” nor “good”, and Trump is going to make that even worse. The decline of the American empire started in the early 2000’s and that decline is about to quicken under Trump. |
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