He's right and he's wrong. This is a system that's not worth defending. But it's not a broken democracy because it never WAS a democracy. It's only becoming more obvious. Even if we got 100% voting participation, there is no one to vote for. Even if there was someone to vote for, they are powerless once elected because the real power is an oligarchic agreement between the Military, the Intelligence agencies, and the corporations. The original oligarchy was white men of vast property who had no regard for non-whites, the poor, or women. With constitutional laws that are either misinterpreted, distorted, or ignored. And other constitutional laws that were put in place for the very purpose of preventing democracy. Our history has been a history of war - first a hundred years of warring against the Indians, then against the Spanish, and now desperately trying to keep economic power over the world. As economic means wears thin, we rely more and more on the military, spending more money on the military than the next ten nations, and with more military bases than anyone else in the world, more bio-weapons labs than anyone in the world (as far as I know, I don't know how many China may have...). We heave a greater concentration of wealth in the hands of the few than we did at the start of our country. We have more misery than ever. This is not a system worth defending. It is also not a system worth fixing. What do we do? We start with really seeing it for what it is.
You’re right that this system isn’t worth defending as-is, and you’re right that it was designed by and for white property owners. The oligarchy critique is also spot-on - corporate capture is real.
Where we disagree is on whether it’s fixable. Yeah, the founders built in anti-democratic features, but we’ve also seen massive expansions of who gets to participate - from abolition to women’s suffrage to civil rights. Those weren’t gifts from above, they were won through organized movements that forced the system to change.
The military-industrial complex is powerful, but it’s not all-powerful. If it were, we wouldn’t see them freaking out every time there’s a real populist movement. They fight so hard because they know they can lose.
And look at what we’ve seen with Trump - his administration has shown a real capacity to gut and demolish the institutions that make up our government. It’s being done for the wrong reasons with the wrong results, but it proves the system isn’t some immovable, impenetrable force. With the right mindset, the right support among people, and the right amount of fear and hope, the system can actually be modified pretty substantially.
Starting with “seeing it for what it is” - agreed. But after that, we still have to choose: try to take it over, or let it keep running us over.
You have very good points, that need to be addressed. You are right that we have had a tremendous expansion of voting rights. However, the expected transformation in who would be elected with the woman's vote did not take place. I don't think you can even see a difference in the historical trend. And the choices are so limited it doesn't matter. Elections serve the purpose of giving us the illusion of democracy and stop us from rebelling. I see the system flawed at its very roots, including the belief in materialism that makes us look at ourselves as separate entities all fighting for power with a zero-sum mindset We have gone from worshipping a dictatorial god to worshipping money and a science that tells us that we are meaningless accidents of chemicals and the only meaning we can have is a temporary one that we fight for before we're dead and gone. This is what we build our society on! Socialism is kinder in theory at least because it believes in spreading the material to society - theoretically. Capitalism doesn't even pretend to be kind. It believes in grabbing as much for yourself of as much material you can get. However, both capitalism and socialism are flawed and that they are all about how material is distributed and don't address who are we and how should we treat each other. This materialism brings out the worst in human nature, so that a government is required to force us to share. And of course, whoever has the power to enforce that has the power to take the most. So there you are and what we really have is state capitalism. Either the state owns the corporations like the Soviet Union did, or the corporations own the state, like here in the US. As long as we have this materialistic outlook with science as our religion we create economies that are doomed to failure. I don't know if it is fixable, but I don't think what we have is worth fixing.
The powers that be are nothing if we don't make them money. They are nothing if we don't fight their wars, their wars not ours!! They are nothing if we don't vote for them!!
From now on, if I get my substack working, which no one seems to want to help me get my Podcast ( https://butwhatthefukdoiknow.substack.com) up and running, and no one, I mean no one has solutions, but I know the solutions, and with America behind My Mandate and we finally band together, instead of letting those that have robbed us blind keep managing to divided us, them we are all fucked, and I mean really fucked up.
We are the first country that tried to give us all freedom, but it has some defects that we can correct. A defect is Capitalism, which suffers from an Inherent Vice, google it, but the defect is Capitalism is greed driven, and free markets are predatory driven, Reign them in which I know how to do, and everything will straighten it self out, and we start with making sure everyone has enough money to live, because; IT'S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY. SOMEBODY PLEASE GUIDE ME THROUGH THE WORST FRIENDLY WBSITE EVER, OUR SUBSTACK...https://butwhatthefukdoiknow.substack.com
It's what Eisenhower warned us about: the military industrial complex and dark money. Get money out of politics. Stop funding war and stop self enrichment.
Make it a one person one vote system, no electoral college.
Many thanks, as far as this goes. In a democracy (we are learning?) it's not someone else to vote for that we lack, but the civic responsibility so easily shirked, the assumption that some of us are right and the rest wrong. Franklin understood this in his inimitable prose: can we keep this majestic experiment? We are a beacon of hope for people around the world who suffer from weak-kneed citizenship and aspire to learn how to make things better for all people. As a life-long civil servant, trying to make an inevitably (human) flawed system work, I will attest to the struggle to overcome selfishness, petulance, and arrogance in the daily grind of making it work for everyone. It's not pretty, but the struggle is so worth it when we see communities rise in solidarity. We need that now, more than ever, to overcome the predations you so clearly identify. Democratize the economy to bring this full circle.
American kids in school might learn that Rosa Parks got tired of being made to sit at the back of the bus. What they don't learn because it's missing from the public school curriculum is that she attended Highlander Folk School at which MLK Jr was faculty. Highlander School was started by Myles Horton who had been inspired by Scandinavian "Bildung" 'folk schools,' out of which were born their social democracies (from the 1700s). "Bildung" supports students and youth to connect with their own internal moral compass and to bring that honed awareness forward to serve the greater good.
Myles Horton commented back in the mid 20th century that when this Republic was founded the population was the size of Tennessee. In growing exponentially, it still has the form but not the meaning. Then it is down to us, here and now in the 21st Century, how we might do that in ways heretofore unimagined. Braver Angels (from 'better angels of our nature') is one initiative (impressively a chapter in every State at this point), also ongoing randomly selected 'choice-creating' Wise Democracy Councils is another. However we do it, 'Adding the Missing Conversation' is where it's at. https://addingthemissingconversation.org/
The community found at Highlander definitely stretches our understanding of the term, and is the most beautiful thing. Unimaginable, but experience-ible. Let's get to it! So well worth opening ones' self to.
I can tell you, yes! they/we are! “Adding the Missing Conversation” came out of a Center for Wise Democracy— CWD—board retreat In Port Townsend WA last Summer. CWD is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that brings a model conceived here in the USA for participatory democracy. It opens up a dynamic space for the Conversation that is not being had (the elephant in the room the dragon behind the door).
The co-founder, Jim Rough, is the author of Society's Breakthrough! the book that tells the origin story.
The model is a constitutional amendment in two states in Europe; ongoing randomly selected citizens council, dynamically facilitated; affords inherently a “choice creating” civic engagement. The model elicits shifts and breakthroughs in thinking, The people in the room together experience emergence into new understandings together, so, different from trying to reach consensus for instance, rather a co-sensing, an emergent discovery together, a synthesis, through harnessing what was previously latent in the room (the sum is greater than the parts).
I absolutely agree with you on all points. I'm so torn on reform or revolution. Some argue that we can build a socialist movement by electoral reform but unless there is mass reform all at once of the economic system then it would be an impossibility in my opinion, as we have seen time and again with multiple politicians attempting change only to be derailed ( intentionally or otherwise) by the current power structure. This leads me to believe revolution is the only true answer to this question. I will continue to bring people into the movement under this guise of electoral reform and money out of politics, however my true belief in the fact that it will work is not there.
The empire will be brought down by the multipolar world if it doesn’t resort to nuclear war first. It’s not looking good…but what we can all do now is dismantle the anti-Russia, anti-China, anti-Iran and anti-BRICS rhetoric. Call it out as lies everywhere you can. Stop the obsessive left/right Dem/Rep divisions and get back to the “we are the 99%” ethos. We can’t let them divide us over identity politics. Focus on what we all want - a decent life, peace and opportunity. We have to first decolonize our minds.
I agree. A conundrum. You cannot easily or peacefully make a democracy out of a kleptocracy/oligarchy, especially when it has been the latter from the getgo. And revolution, what kind, the non-violent one? Where is that? Which oligarch will accede first to walking away from near absolute narcissistic hegemonic power over its share of the spoils? NO ONE. The human character has degenerated into zombies who actually believe they are Predators. There is a heavy fog in the brains of most humans, due to thousands of factors, but among the worst are malnutrition, toxins by the thousands invading the body, VAST separation between the morbidly rich and the working person, LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES and STILL MORE LIES. The streets and byways and empty fields and mangled mountains and filthy seas and waterways do NOT support intelligence or altruism or even prudence. THEY ALL KILL. We very quickly are reverting to barbarism ans savagery. Look around you, near and far. These behaviors are everywhere, both large and small in size but huge in number.
And then let the scales fall from your eyes and WAKE UP to the rolling disaster of disrupting our climate, weather, water, food and habitat. Humanity cannot endure a 3 degree C increase, and in many places this reality is HERE NOW.
No wonder the zombies rail against WOKE and are turning the clock back.. They are drowning in the FEAR they have created and are so myopic and stupid they cannot see they will die right along with their victims.
MONEY SUPPLIED BY THE GOVERNMENT PRINTING BUREAU AND THE TREASURY
You think this absurd? So many Americans that I speak to say they will never do it!
Who is the “THEY”?
“WE THE PEOPLE” ARE THE “THEY” IN “THEY!”
Too many Americans don’t have the fighting FREDOM SPIRIT.
WTF, we solve Our problem by electing our Government Employees to Government at every level, by insisting if they want Our dollars and Our votes they (the candidates running for political office) sign our agreement that says basically; to the “WE THE PEOPLE” agree that I will accept that for your votes and donations to get me elected that I agree that “WE THE PEOPLE” will write the laws that will benefit everyone equally for a better America, and I will propose it as part of my responsibilities, and urge my Colleagues in Government to do they same. In addition, I may propose laws that I want to introduce, and I will first get approval from “WE THE PEOPLE’S” Legal Review Committee before I can submit any law.
I completely understand they will review my proposal expeditiously, because they know that I am an American too, who believes in the Mandate by Lucky Lieberman in its entirety.
I accept that my failure to comply 100% with my signed agreement with “WE THE PEOPLE’S” agreement, that I will immediately return all the donations that they gave to me, and I will immediately resign my elected position in Government.
This is how we control who we elect to Public Service in America from now on.
But first, understand that the entire US project began and continues to be a product of the British Empire. A rebrand. A proxy. Controlled by British designed institutions, morality, and propaganda. A colonization of the mind, that carries out the will of the empire by its programming, not coercion. If you don’t understand its foundation, you can’t change it. (same goes for Israel, NATO, the IMF, World Bank, etc.). The fall of the empire was a myth of their own making to avoid accountability and blowback. This system wasn’t designed for us. It’s working as intended.
Voting has been tried and has failed. It saps us of power because we channel our resistance into that instead of more direct resistance. Resistance has to happen every day, not two or four years for a select group of people, all who answer to the same authority.
You keep saying the system is "broken." The system is working just the was it was planned. It was never intended to work the way we were taught. We were taught an illusion.
When I talk about things being broken, I mean, broken in the sense that they don’t deliver what they are ostensibly intended to. So I think from the majority of people’s perspective a look at our institutions would suggest that they’re broken as opposed to working as designed, but I hear you. The ultimate ideas that what we need is a mass movement that backs a large group of candidates for transformed of change in my opinion. That was the idea behind brand new Congress that was the idea behind Justice Democrats and that was the idea originally when Ocasio-Cortez was campaigning.
Perhaps you should contemplate this age old expression: "if voting actually changed things, it wouldn't be allowed". That's what we're dealing with...face up.
Restoring our democracy means rescuing the electoral process from the iron grip of the two party system. This translates to creating real choice at the polls, making available "people's candidates" who are not beholden to the ruling elite but will faithfully serve the everyday citizens who elect them. Here is a promising approach ... https://no-contract-no-vote.us/the-cfar-is-a-game-changer/
The problem I have with the CFAR is the penalty clause. Getting a candidate to sign a CFAR at this point would be victory enough. Don't scare away potential candidates with a resignation requirement, a risk of bankruptcy, and a threat of litigation if they don't meet a 180-day deadline that ignores the time it takes to build the staffing, the consensus and the momentum -- not to mention the time it takes just to craft intelligent, effective legislation -- necessary for the legislation to succeed.
The point of the penalty clause is not to "scare" candidates but to convince the public that this is a serious commitment, not just more empty rhetoric. Anyone running who is serious about representing the people doesn't have to worry about not fulfilling the terms of the contract. It's quite straightforward. But the voters have to know that the candidate's commitment is rock solid.
180 days is more than sufficient to craft good legislation. We already know what it should look like. No more excuses, delays, rationalizations. Our patience is exhausted. We're out of time.
Yup. Agree. My two cents: it will probably take a spiritual revolution (in the 2030s?) which does many things including sweep away all the political and economic crap we all agree has to go--replace it with a whole new set of candidates and vision.
"They're losing faith in the idea that democracy itself still works. And they're not wrong."
I disagree. The New Deal brought us a system the did work. but that system has been dismantled beginning with the Reagan administration and continuing until the present. It was not a perfect system by any means. Even at its best it could still have used improvement, but it did work then and it could be made to work again. But democracy should never be regarded as something accomplished, but more as a ideal to be pursued.
You’re right to distinguish between democracy as a process and the specific systems we’ve built. The New Deal did create institutions that worked better for more people, and you’re right that those have been systematically dismantled since Reagan.
When I say people are losing faith in democracy, I’m not talking about democracy as an ideal - I’m talking about their faith in the current electoral process and institutions. People are disconnecting from voting, from primaries, from civic engagement because they don’t see it producing results for them.
The New Deal happened because people organized and demanded it. Same with civil rights, labor rights, women’s suffrage. Those movements worked within democratic processes to expand who democracy served. That’s exactly what I’m arguing we need to do again - build movements that can take over the Democratic Party infrastructure and restore institutions that actually work for people.
Democracy as an ideal to be pursued - completely agree. But we can’t pursue it if people have given up on the tools we have to get there.
America was never intended to be a democracy. Certainly the US constitution did not support democracy, in fact it was designed to LIMIT democracy. And when the anti-slavery movement progressed to envision America as a more democratic nation, we went to civil war. In the aftermath all gains from the 13, 14, and 15 amendments were soften or even rolled back, leaving us with festering wounds that weren't closed for another hundred years with the advent of the Civil Rights Act. Even then, these sores remain, with the arc of government drawn as this: patriotism > nationalism > fascism. There are definite ways to replace our tattered and ineffective old constitution with a new constitution embracing well-defined commitments to our people first and removal of corporate and foreign influences but it will not come gently.
You’re absolutely right that the Constitution was designed to limit democracy, not enable it. The founders were terrified of direct democracy and built in features like the Senate, Electoral College, and lifetime tenure for judges specifically to check popular will.
And you’re spot-on about the pattern - every major democratic advance gets followed by organized backlash. Reconstruction got Jim Crow. The New Deal got the conservative counter-revolution. Civil rights got the Southern Strategy and mass incarceration.
But here’s what I keep coming back to: those advances happened anyway. Not because the system was designed for them, but because movements forced the system to change. Abolitionists, suffragettes, labor organizers, civil rights activists - they didn’t wait for permission from the Constitution. They organized and made it politically impossible to ignore them.
A new constitutional convention could be great in theory, but it’s also terrifying given who would likely control that process right now. I’d rather see us use the tools we have - elections, primaries, organizing - to build enough power that we can force the changes we need.
The system resists change, but it’s not immune to it. The question is whether we can build movements strong enough to overcome that
WOULD YOU SIGN & AGREE THAT FUTURE ELECTED GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES OF ‘WE THE PEOPLE” NEED TO BE UNDER CONTRACT
To “We The People,” as someone that is a Candidate for public office, I understand the laws that “We The People” want and need to be proposed in Congress, and passed, signed into law by the President, and I support your wishes 100%.
I have read your Mandate, and I am up to date on all the addendums, and your proposals makes all the Governments employees, (elected officials), our employee’s obligations so much easier for me to support to its fullest meaning and intent.
I understand that if I receive your dollars and your votes as a candidates running for any political office that basically I will accept that for your votes and donations to get me elected that I agree that “WE THE PEOPLE” will write the laws that will benefit everyone equally for a better America, and I will propose it as part of my responsibilities, and urge my Colleagues in Government to do the same.
In addition, I may propose laws that I want to introduce, and I will first get approval from “WE THE PEOPLE’S” Legal Review Committee before I can submit any law.
I completely understand they will review my proposal expeditiously, because they know that I am an American too, who believes in the Mandate by Lucky Lieberman in its entirety.
I accept that my failure to comply 100% with my signed agreement with “WE THE PEOPLE’S” agreement, that I will immediately return all the donations that they gave to me, and I will immediately resign my elected position in Government.
Yes, I agree, and this agreement will assure and insure, that our Democracy will finally become the purest beacon of freedom throughout the World.
I’m with you most of the way, but I think you are wrong about ranked choice voting and open primaries. These increase the burden on individual voters to figure out who to support, and tend to increase the importance of candidates being wealthy, well-funded, or famous. Politics is a team sport and you should look at reforms that incentivize organizing and organizations.
You make a fair point about ranked choice voting and open primaries potentially creating more burden on voters and favoring well-funded candidates. I’m not particularly married to any specific electoral reforms - what I’m committed to is improving people’s ability to engage with democracy and see results from that engagement.
The reforms I’m most sure about are the ones that make participation easier - national holidays, unified election dates, automatic registration. Those remove barriers without creating new complexities.
You’re also right about the information problem being huge. One of the biggest obstacles to informed voting is that the concept of shared truth has become so foreign. We have so many competing perspectives and even competing “facts” that it’s hard to know what to trust. That suggests we need substantial media reforms alongside electoral reforms.
Politics is definitely a team sport, and you’re right that we should be thinking about reforms that incentivize organizing rather than just individual voter education. The bigger point is that right now neither party is pushing for major reforms because it doesn’t serve their interests. That’s exactly why I think the takeover of the Democratic Party needs to be based on this idea of political reform and better representation.
What kinds of organizing-focused reforms are you thinking about?
One thing that's been lacking is trustworthy information about the candidates all in one place, all the way down the ballot. There are some guides but they're always incomplete. We need to know what every candidate is about, and that's hard to do. When I vote I spend a lot of time researching candidates for judgeships, school boards, and local offices. If you have suggestions for how we can do this on a grand scale, I'm all ears.
Corbin, you are an insightful and intelligent person who cares. Obvious. What is not obvious is that there are nearly 9 billion humans on a trashed planet that is being killed off faster than anyone can say 'But Wait?' The hoarding addiction among the narcissistic psychopaths, sadists and perverts is IMMENSE, and it is bringing all the orcs out of the woodwork. Dissolution is occurring at breakneck speed. WHO will deconstruct and re-construct the 'democratic model' in the fashion that has never been attempted in 4k years. Athens was far from perfect. Aboriginal cultures came close, at times, but were always interrupted by invaders and dissolved. It is obvious, is it NOT, that humans gravitate to selfish, violent, illogical actions much more easily than they do to reasoned emotions based upon reasoned experiences that TEACH that harmony is much better for all than carnivorous CHAOS.
FEAR RULES the human psyche right now, maybe since the getgo. Hard so say since we lost the ability to TELL the TRUTH long ago. LYING is like breathing these days, you do it and you live another day. And there are NO GODS to punish the Vicious. The Vicious become pseudo-gods via the avenue of AVARICE, the hoarding greed and hubris that exacts Violence upon anyone who says 'But Wait!'
There is no Judge Dredd out there except the New and Improved ICE thuggery. The military in any country is a TOOL for OPPRESSION. Military regimes are not designed to be Arbiters. It appears that MISERY is the only method of education, and when you view the horror in Gaza right now, it is obvious that misery does not create enlightenment or positivity.
Yeats' Rough Beast, and a bunch of clones, are HERE NOW, and I do not see how 7 billion poor, wretched, powerless beings are going to just stand up and say 'But Wait!' and magically the BRAIN DEAD ZOMBIES will just fall to the ground, except maybe because they are laughing so hard they cannot remain upright.
If what you propose IS to be done, it can only be done IF enough humans throw caution to the wind and flat out RESIST all ICE thugs and Heg-emony-seth soldiers trained to do one thing -KILL. A coupe is very different from a revolution. Overthrowing a govt. is not child's play.
Corbin, great breakdown on how the system’s broken.
Dunno if you’re planning on hitting these points in later posts but:
The flip side of this post is that both parties are devoted to ignoring what the majority of the nation’s people want or need — affordable, accessible healthcare, not supporting a genocide, maybe dealing with the party-promoting lawlessness of the Roberts court, and so on and so forth.
Speaking of, a huge part of that disregard is due to nearly all of our elected officials being beholden to the special interests that matter: Major contributors. Get money out of politics and a lot of the problems can possibly be solved. Keep money in and you what we get: National collapse.
Related to that, far too many politicians are in the public servant business for the money.
Finally, as maybe implied in the post, far too many voters fail to grasp that they have a responsibility to vote, like it or not.
As an election worker in GA I've always thought the elections were fraud free and accurate. A few months ago I started reading about the "testing labs" that certify all our voting machines. What a scam. Read this post and be sure to click the links from @Dissent In Bloom. She's been digging deep into this for quite a while.
I would suggest that the problem isn't democracy per se; it's the way it's been implemented and bastardized in the US. The system needs to be made more democratic.
I think too much is laid on the Democratic Party for inaction in the long slow drive to a more perfect oligarchy. Bad Faith Repugnicans seem to have learned the lessons from the Robber Barons and Roaring 20s, and have been very astute in distracting us while they dismantled the New Deal, just as Andrew Jackson was successful in sabotaging the original American Dream by attacking innocents. Thanks to Donald Trump for being so incredibly incompetent and malicious. It might finally awaken us to our civic duties as the upholders and guardrails of a perpetual democracy.
Hey Corbin, it’s Elijah from Call Team Bernie 2016. I love reading your thoughts and analyses. Among other reasons like Dem senators and governors winning 6 out of 7 swing states (same voters and same ballots that supposedly voted for Trump), here is why so many of us are skeptical of the results of 2024. The superintendent of schools (a Democrat, way WAY downballot) in North Carolina got more raw votes than Kamala at the top of the ballot. Zero chance of that happening naturally. A vote-flipping algo was used across the country. Please read here:
I hate to break this to you folks but other than taking them out, one by one, behind the dumpsters at 7/11 the only way to get rid of the people who gerrymander the voting districts in your state and work actively to get qualified voters off the voting rolls in your County, State or USA Congress is to elect someone else. VET your candidates and ask what they have done or plan to do to enlist impartial, computerized. Voter districting systems, in your area, State and nationwide. These computers and computer programs are used in Federal and State Court cases to determine if districts are fairly defined, by impartial criteria, into voting districts based on geographic location and population, without reguard to political parties, race, economics or other factors. If that candidate elected supports one person, one vote, let the districts fall where they should. Weigh this with other things vital to your needs. as far as their policies and actions, if they do become your elected reps. Our democracy depends on it.
He's right and he's wrong. This is a system that's not worth defending. But it's not a broken democracy because it never WAS a democracy. It's only becoming more obvious. Even if we got 100% voting participation, there is no one to vote for. Even if there was someone to vote for, they are powerless once elected because the real power is an oligarchic agreement between the Military, the Intelligence agencies, and the corporations. The original oligarchy was white men of vast property who had no regard for non-whites, the poor, or women. With constitutional laws that are either misinterpreted, distorted, or ignored. And other constitutional laws that were put in place for the very purpose of preventing democracy. Our history has been a history of war - first a hundred years of warring against the Indians, then against the Spanish, and now desperately trying to keep economic power over the world. As economic means wears thin, we rely more and more on the military, spending more money on the military than the next ten nations, and with more military bases than anyone else in the world, more bio-weapons labs than anyone in the world (as far as I know, I don't know how many China may have...). We heave a greater concentration of wealth in the hands of the few than we did at the start of our country. We have more misery than ever. This is not a system worth defending. It is also not a system worth fixing. What do we do? We start with really seeing it for what it is.
You’re right that this system isn’t worth defending as-is, and you’re right that it was designed by and for white property owners. The oligarchy critique is also spot-on - corporate capture is real.
Where we disagree is on whether it’s fixable. Yeah, the founders built in anti-democratic features, but we’ve also seen massive expansions of who gets to participate - from abolition to women’s suffrage to civil rights. Those weren’t gifts from above, they were won through organized movements that forced the system to change.
The military-industrial complex is powerful, but it’s not all-powerful. If it were, we wouldn’t see them freaking out every time there’s a real populist movement. They fight so hard because they know they can lose.
And look at what we’ve seen with Trump - his administration has shown a real capacity to gut and demolish the institutions that make up our government. It’s being done for the wrong reasons with the wrong results, but it proves the system isn’t some immovable, impenetrable force. With the right mindset, the right support among people, and the right amount of fear and hope, the system can actually be modified pretty substantially.
Starting with “seeing it for what it is” - agreed. But after that, we still have to choose: try to take it over, or let it keep running us over.
You have very good points, that need to be addressed. You are right that we have had a tremendous expansion of voting rights. However, the expected transformation in who would be elected with the woman's vote did not take place. I don't think you can even see a difference in the historical trend. And the choices are so limited it doesn't matter. Elections serve the purpose of giving us the illusion of democracy and stop us from rebelling. I see the system flawed at its very roots, including the belief in materialism that makes us look at ourselves as separate entities all fighting for power with a zero-sum mindset We have gone from worshipping a dictatorial god to worshipping money and a science that tells us that we are meaningless accidents of chemicals and the only meaning we can have is a temporary one that we fight for before we're dead and gone. This is what we build our society on! Socialism is kinder in theory at least because it believes in spreading the material to society - theoretically. Capitalism doesn't even pretend to be kind. It believes in grabbing as much for yourself of as much material you can get. However, both capitalism and socialism are flawed and that they are all about how material is distributed and don't address who are we and how should we treat each other. This materialism brings out the worst in human nature, so that a government is required to force us to share. And of course, whoever has the power to enforce that has the power to take the most. So there you are and what we really have is state capitalism. Either the state owns the corporations like the Soviet Union did, or the corporations own the state, like here in the US. As long as we have this materialistic outlook with science as our religion we create economies that are doomed to failure. I don't know if it is fixable, but I don't think what we have is worth fixing.
Completely agree. What we need is a values reset.
The powers that be are nothing if we don't make them money. They are nothing if we don't fight their wars, their wars not ours!! They are nothing if we don't vote for them!!
From now on, if I get my substack working, which no one seems to want to help me get my Podcast ( https://butwhatthefukdoiknow.substack.com) up and running, and no one, I mean no one has solutions, but I know the solutions, and with America behind My Mandate and we finally band together, instead of letting those that have robbed us blind keep managing to divided us, them we are all fucked, and I mean really fucked up.
We are the first country that tried to give us all freedom, but it has some defects that we can correct. A defect is Capitalism, which suffers from an Inherent Vice, google it, but the defect is Capitalism is greed driven, and free markets are predatory driven, Reign them in which I know how to do, and everything will straighten it self out, and we start with making sure everyone has enough money to live, because; IT'S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY. SOMEBODY PLEASE GUIDE ME THROUGH THE WORST FRIENDLY WBSITE EVER, OUR SUBSTACK...https://butwhatthefukdoiknow.substack.com
It's what Eisenhower warned us about: the military industrial complex and dark money. Get money out of politics. Stop funding war and stop self enrichment.
Make it a one person one vote system, no electoral college.
Many thanks, as far as this goes. In a democracy (we are learning?) it's not someone else to vote for that we lack, but the civic responsibility so easily shirked, the assumption that some of us are right and the rest wrong. Franklin understood this in his inimitable prose: can we keep this majestic experiment? We are a beacon of hope for people around the world who suffer from weak-kneed citizenship and aspire to learn how to make things better for all people. As a life-long civil servant, trying to make an inevitably (human) flawed system work, I will attest to the struggle to overcome selfishness, petulance, and arrogance in the daily grind of making it work for everyone. It's not pretty, but the struggle is so worth it when we see communities rise in solidarity. We need that now, more than ever, to overcome the predations you so clearly identify. Democratize the economy to bring this full circle.
American kids in school might learn that Rosa Parks got tired of being made to sit at the back of the bus. What they don't learn because it's missing from the public school curriculum is that she attended Highlander Folk School at which MLK Jr was faculty. Highlander School was started by Myles Horton who had been inspired by Scandinavian "Bildung" 'folk schools,' out of which were born their social democracies (from the 1700s). "Bildung" supports students and youth to connect with their own internal moral compass and to bring that honed awareness forward to serve the greater good.
Myles Horton commented back in the mid 20th century that when this Republic was founded the population was the size of Tennessee. In growing exponentially, it still has the form but not the meaning. Then it is down to us, here and now in the 21st Century, how we might do that in ways heretofore unimagined. Braver Angels (from 'better angels of our nature') is one initiative (impressively a chapter in every State at this point), also ongoing randomly selected 'choice-creating' Wise Democracy Councils is another. However we do it, 'Adding the Missing Conversation' is where it's at. https://addingthemissingconversation.org/
The community found at Highlander definitely stretches our understanding of the term, and is the most beautiful thing. Unimaginable, but experience-ible. Let's get to it! So well worth opening ones' self to.
Thanks! I looked up https://addingthemissingconversation.org/ and emailed them to learn if AMC people in the USA.
I can tell you, yes! they/we are! “Adding the Missing Conversation” came out of a Center for Wise Democracy— CWD—board retreat In Port Townsend WA last Summer. CWD is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that brings a model conceived here in the USA for participatory democracy. It opens up a dynamic space for the Conversation that is not being had (the elephant in the room the dragon behind the door).
The co-founder, Jim Rough, is the author of Society's Breakthrough! the book that tells the origin story.
The model is a constitutional amendment in two states in Europe; ongoing randomly selected citizens council, dynamically facilitated; affords inherently a “choice creating” civic engagement. The model elicits shifts and breakthroughs in thinking, The people in the room together experience emergence into new understandings together, so, different from trying to reach consensus for instance, rather a co-sensing, an emergent discovery together, a synthesis, through harnessing what was previously latent in the room (the sum is greater than the parts).
USA CWD website:
https//wisedemocracy.org
I absolutely agree with you on all points. I'm so torn on reform or revolution. Some argue that we can build a socialist movement by electoral reform but unless there is mass reform all at once of the economic system then it would be an impossibility in my opinion, as we have seen time and again with multiple politicians attempting change only to be derailed ( intentionally or otherwise) by the current power structure. This leads me to believe revolution is the only true answer to this question. I will continue to bring people into the movement under this guise of electoral reform and money out of politics, however my true belief in the fact that it will work is not there.
The empire will be brought down by the multipolar world if it doesn’t resort to nuclear war first. It’s not looking good…but what we can all do now is dismantle the anti-Russia, anti-China, anti-Iran and anti-BRICS rhetoric. Call it out as lies everywhere you can. Stop the obsessive left/right Dem/Rep divisions and get back to the “we are the 99%” ethos. We can’t let them divide us over identity politics. Focus on what we all want - a decent life, peace and opportunity. We have to first decolonize our minds.
I agree. A conundrum. You cannot easily or peacefully make a democracy out of a kleptocracy/oligarchy, especially when it has been the latter from the getgo. And revolution, what kind, the non-violent one? Where is that? Which oligarch will accede first to walking away from near absolute narcissistic hegemonic power over its share of the spoils? NO ONE. The human character has degenerated into zombies who actually believe they are Predators. There is a heavy fog in the brains of most humans, due to thousands of factors, but among the worst are malnutrition, toxins by the thousands invading the body, VAST separation between the morbidly rich and the working person, LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES and STILL MORE LIES. The streets and byways and empty fields and mangled mountains and filthy seas and waterways do NOT support intelligence or altruism or even prudence. THEY ALL KILL. We very quickly are reverting to barbarism ans savagery. Look around you, near and far. These behaviors are everywhere, both large and small in size but huge in number.
And then let the scales fall from your eyes and WAKE UP to the rolling disaster of disrupting our climate, weather, water, food and habitat. Humanity cannot endure a 3 degree C increase, and in many places this reality is HERE NOW.
No wonder the zombies rail against WOKE and are turning the clock back.. They are drowning in the FEAR they have created and are so myopic and stupid they cannot see they will die right along with their victims.
MONEY SUPPLIED BY THE GOVERNMENT PRINTING BUREAU AND THE TREASURY
You think this absurd? So many Americans that I speak to say they will never do it!
Who is the “THEY”?
“WE THE PEOPLE” ARE THE “THEY” IN “THEY!”
Too many Americans don’t have the fighting FREDOM SPIRIT.
WTF, we solve Our problem by electing our Government Employees to Government at every level, by insisting if they want Our dollars and Our votes they (the candidates running for political office) sign our agreement that says basically; to the “WE THE PEOPLE” agree that I will accept that for your votes and donations to get me elected that I agree that “WE THE PEOPLE” will write the laws that will benefit everyone equally for a better America, and I will propose it as part of my responsibilities, and urge my Colleagues in Government to do they same. In addition, I may propose laws that I want to introduce, and I will first get approval from “WE THE PEOPLE’S” Legal Review Committee before I can submit any law.
I completely understand they will review my proposal expeditiously, because they know that I am an American too, who believes in the Mandate by Lucky Lieberman in its entirety.
I accept that my failure to comply 100% with my signed agreement with “WE THE PEOPLE’S” agreement, that I will immediately return all the donations that they gave to me, and I will immediately resign my elected position in Government.
This is how we control who we elect to Public Service in America from now on.
GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY NEED
If only. 😀
You give the reasons that he should run for office.
Eek I would hate it.
But first, understand that the entire US project began and continues to be a product of the British Empire. A rebrand. A proxy. Controlled by British designed institutions, morality, and propaganda. A colonization of the mind, that carries out the will of the empire by its programming, not coercion. If you don’t understand its foundation, you can’t change it. (same goes for Israel, NATO, the IMF, World Bank, etc.). The fall of the empire was a myth of their own making to avoid accountability and blowback. This system wasn’t designed for us. It’s working as intended.
All true.
Except the only power we have is to vote and bring some pressure on what gets elected.
Voting has been tried and has failed. It saps us of power because we channel our resistance into that instead of more direct resistance. Resistance has to happen every day, not two or four years for a select group of people, all who answer to the same authority.
You keep saying the system is "broken." The system is working just the was it was planned. It was never intended to work the way we were taught. We were taught an illusion.
I talk about that in this piece.
https://www.americasundoing.com/p/our-system-broken-or-working-as-designed
When I talk about things being broken, I mean, broken in the sense that they don’t deliver what they are ostensibly intended to. So I think from the majority of people’s perspective a look at our institutions would suggest that they’re broken as opposed to working as designed, but I hear you. The ultimate ideas that what we need is a mass movement that backs a large group of candidates for transformed of change in my opinion. That was the idea behind brand new Congress that was the idea behind Justice Democrats and that was the idea originally when Ocasio-Cortez was campaigning.
Perhaps you should contemplate this age old expression: "if voting actually changed things, it wouldn't be allowed". That's what we're dealing with...face up.
https://open.substack.com/pub/thiswillhold/p/ex-cia-whistleblower-the-nsa-audited?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1wbr1r
Restoring our democracy means rescuing the electoral process from the iron grip of the two party system. This translates to creating real choice at the polls, making available "people's candidates" who are not beholden to the ruling elite but will faithfully serve the everyday citizens who elect them. Here is a promising approach ... https://no-contract-no-vote.us/the-cfar-is-a-game-changer/
The problem I have with the CFAR is the penalty clause. Getting a candidate to sign a CFAR at this point would be victory enough. Don't scare away potential candidates with a resignation requirement, a risk of bankruptcy, and a threat of litigation if they don't meet a 180-day deadline that ignores the time it takes to build the staffing, the consensus and the momentum -- not to mention the time it takes just to craft intelligent, effective legislation -- necessary for the legislation to succeed.
The point of the penalty clause is not to "scare" candidates but to convince the public that this is a serious commitment, not just more empty rhetoric. Anyone running who is serious about representing the people doesn't have to worry about not fulfilling the terms of the contract. It's quite straightforward. But the voters have to know that the candidate's commitment is rock solid.
180 days is more than sufficient to craft good legislation. We already know what it should look like. No more excuses, delays, rationalizations. Our patience is exhausted. We're out of time.
Broken is broken. You have to REPLACE it with something new, something much better.
Repair vs rebuild. I’m not sure which is the easier or more productive lift.
Yup. Agree. My two cents: it will probably take a spiritual revolution (in the 2030s?) which does many things including sweep away all the political and economic crap we all agree has to go--replace it with a whole new set of candidates and vision.
"They're losing faith in the idea that democracy itself still works. And they're not wrong."
I disagree. The New Deal brought us a system the did work. but that system has been dismantled beginning with the Reagan administration and continuing until the present. It was not a perfect system by any means. Even at its best it could still have used improvement, but it did work then and it could be made to work again. But democracy should never be regarded as something accomplished, but more as a ideal to be pursued.
You’re right to distinguish between democracy as a process and the specific systems we’ve built. The New Deal did create institutions that worked better for more people, and you’re right that those have been systematically dismantled since Reagan.
When I say people are losing faith in democracy, I’m not talking about democracy as an ideal - I’m talking about their faith in the current electoral process and institutions. People are disconnecting from voting, from primaries, from civic engagement because they don’t see it producing results for them.
The New Deal happened because people organized and demanded it. Same with civil rights, labor rights, women’s suffrage. Those movements worked within democratic processes to expand who democracy served. That’s exactly what I’m arguing we need to do again - build movements that can take over the Democratic Party infrastructure and restore institutions that actually work for people.
Democracy as an ideal to be pursued - completely agree. But we can’t pursue it if people have given up on the tools we have to get there.
America was never intended to be a democracy. Certainly the US constitution did not support democracy, in fact it was designed to LIMIT democracy. And when the anti-slavery movement progressed to envision America as a more democratic nation, we went to civil war. In the aftermath all gains from the 13, 14, and 15 amendments were soften or even rolled back, leaving us with festering wounds that weren't closed for another hundred years with the advent of the Civil Rights Act. Even then, these sores remain, with the arc of government drawn as this: patriotism > nationalism > fascism. There are definite ways to replace our tattered and ineffective old constitution with a new constitution embracing well-defined commitments to our people first and removal of corporate and foreign influences but it will not come gently.
You’re absolutely right that the Constitution was designed to limit democracy, not enable it. The founders were terrified of direct democracy and built in features like the Senate, Electoral College, and lifetime tenure for judges specifically to check popular will.
And you’re spot-on about the pattern - every major democratic advance gets followed by organized backlash. Reconstruction got Jim Crow. The New Deal got the conservative counter-revolution. Civil rights got the Southern Strategy and mass incarceration.
But here’s what I keep coming back to: those advances happened anyway. Not because the system was designed for them, but because movements forced the system to change. Abolitionists, suffragettes, labor organizers, civil rights activists - they didn’t wait for permission from the Constitution. They organized and made it politically impossible to ignore them.
A new constitutional convention could be great in theory, but it’s also terrifying given who would likely control that process right now. I’d rather see us use the tools we have - elections, primaries, organizing - to build enough power that we can force the changes we need.
The system resists change, but it’s not immune to it. The question is whether we can build movements strong enough to overcome that
CORBIN, DO YOU AGREE WITH THIS?
WOULD YOU SIGN & AGREE THAT FUTURE ELECTED GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES OF ‘WE THE PEOPLE” NEED TO BE UNDER CONTRACT
To “We The People,” as someone that is a Candidate for public office, I understand the laws that “We The People” want and need to be proposed in Congress, and passed, signed into law by the President, and I support your wishes 100%.
I have read your Mandate, and I am up to date on all the addendums, and your proposals makes all the Governments employees, (elected officials), our employee’s obligations so much easier for me to support to its fullest meaning and intent.
I understand that if I receive your dollars and your votes as a candidates running for any political office that basically I will accept that for your votes and donations to get me elected that I agree that “WE THE PEOPLE” will write the laws that will benefit everyone equally for a better America, and I will propose it as part of my responsibilities, and urge my Colleagues in Government to do the same.
In addition, I may propose laws that I want to introduce, and I will first get approval from “WE THE PEOPLE’S” Legal Review Committee before I can submit any law.
I completely understand they will review my proposal expeditiously, because they know that I am an American too, who believes in the Mandate by Lucky Lieberman in its entirety.
I accept that my failure to comply 100% with my signed agreement with “WE THE PEOPLE’S” agreement, that I will immediately return all the donations that they gave to me, and I will immediately resign my elected position in Government.
Yes, I agree, and this agreement will assure and insure, that our Democracy will finally become the purest beacon of freedom throughout the World.
I’m with you most of the way, but I think you are wrong about ranked choice voting and open primaries. These increase the burden on individual voters to figure out who to support, and tend to increase the importance of candidates being wealthy, well-funded, or famous. Politics is a team sport and you should look at reforms that incentivize organizing and organizations.
You make a fair point about ranked choice voting and open primaries potentially creating more burden on voters and favoring well-funded candidates. I’m not particularly married to any specific electoral reforms - what I’m committed to is improving people’s ability to engage with democracy and see results from that engagement.
The reforms I’m most sure about are the ones that make participation easier - national holidays, unified election dates, automatic registration. Those remove barriers without creating new complexities.
You’re also right about the information problem being huge. One of the biggest obstacles to informed voting is that the concept of shared truth has become so foreign. We have so many competing perspectives and even competing “facts” that it’s hard to know what to trust. That suggests we need substantial media reforms alongside electoral reforms.
Politics is definitely a team sport, and you’re right that we should be thinking about reforms that incentivize organizing rather than just individual voter education. The bigger point is that right now neither party is pushing for major reforms because it doesn’t serve their interests. That’s exactly why I think the takeover of the Democratic Party needs to be based on this idea of political reform and better representation.
What kinds of organizing-focused reforms are you thinking about?
One thing that's been lacking is trustworthy information about the candidates all in one place, all the way down the ballot. There are some guides but they're always incomplete. We need to know what every candidate is about, and that's hard to do. When I vote I spend a lot of time researching candidates for judgeships, school boards, and local offices. If you have suggestions for how we can do this on a grand scale, I'm all ears.
I agree. Ranked choice has not worked well here in California, IMO.
Corbin, you are an insightful and intelligent person who cares. Obvious. What is not obvious is that there are nearly 9 billion humans on a trashed planet that is being killed off faster than anyone can say 'But Wait?' The hoarding addiction among the narcissistic psychopaths, sadists and perverts is IMMENSE, and it is bringing all the orcs out of the woodwork. Dissolution is occurring at breakneck speed. WHO will deconstruct and re-construct the 'democratic model' in the fashion that has never been attempted in 4k years. Athens was far from perfect. Aboriginal cultures came close, at times, but were always interrupted by invaders and dissolved. It is obvious, is it NOT, that humans gravitate to selfish, violent, illogical actions much more easily than they do to reasoned emotions based upon reasoned experiences that TEACH that harmony is much better for all than carnivorous CHAOS.
FEAR RULES the human psyche right now, maybe since the getgo. Hard so say since we lost the ability to TELL the TRUTH long ago. LYING is like breathing these days, you do it and you live another day. And there are NO GODS to punish the Vicious. The Vicious become pseudo-gods via the avenue of AVARICE, the hoarding greed and hubris that exacts Violence upon anyone who says 'But Wait!'
There is no Judge Dredd out there except the New and Improved ICE thuggery. The military in any country is a TOOL for OPPRESSION. Military regimes are not designed to be Arbiters. It appears that MISERY is the only method of education, and when you view the horror in Gaza right now, it is obvious that misery does not create enlightenment or positivity.
Yeats' Rough Beast, and a bunch of clones, are HERE NOW, and I do not see how 7 billion poor, wretched, powerless beings are going to just stand up and say 'But Wait!' and magically the BRAIN DEAD ZOMBIES will just fall to the ground, except maybe because they are laughing so hard they cannot remain upright.
If what you propose IS to be done, it can only be done IF enough humans throw caution to the wind and flat out RESIST all ICE thugs and Heg-emony-seth soldiers trained to do one thing -KILL. A coupe is very different from a revolution. Overthrowing a govt. is not child's play.
You should definitely run for office.
Corbin, great breakdown on how the system’s broken.
Dunno if you’re planning on hitting these points in later posts but:
The flip side of this post is that both parties are devoted to ignoring what the majority of the nation’s people want or need — affordable, accessible healthcare, not supporting a genocide, maybe dealing with the party-promoting lawlessness of the Roberts court, and so on and so forth.
Speaking of, a huge part of that disregard is due to nearly all of our elected officials being beholden to the special interests that matter: Major contributors. Get money out of politics and a lot of the problems can possibly be solved. Keep money in and you what we get: National collapse.
Related to that, far too many politicians are in the public servant business for the money.
Finally, as maybe implied in the post, far too many voters fail to grasp that they have a responsibility to vote, like it or not.
As an election worker in GA I've always thought the elections were fraud free and accurate. A few months ago I started reading about the "testing labs" that certify all our voting machines. What a scam. Read this post and be sure to click the links from @Dissent In Bloom. She's been digging deep into this for quite a while.
https://open.substack.com/pub/thiswillhold/p/ex-cia-whistleblower-the-nsa-audited?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1wbr1r
I would suggest that the problem isn't democracy per se; it's the way it's been implemented and bastardized in the US. The system needs to be made more democratic.
I think too much is laid on the Democratic Party for inaction in the long slow drive to a more perfect oligarchy. Bad Faith Repugnicans seem to have learned the lessons from the Robber Barons and Roaring 20s, and have been very astute in distracting us while they dismantled the New Deal, just as Andrew Jackson was successful in sabotaging the original American Dream by attacking innocents. Thanks to Donald Trump for being so incredibly incompetent and malicious. It might finally awaken us to our civic duties as the upholders and guardrails of a perpetual democracy.
Hey Corbin, it’s Elijah from Call Team Bernie 2016. I love reading your thoughts and analyses. Among other reasons like Dem senators and governors winning 6 out of 7 swing states (same voters and same ballots that supposedly voted for Trump), here is why so many of us are skeptical of the results of 2024. The superintendent of schools (a Democrat, way WAY downballot) in North Carolina got more raw votes than Kamala at the top of the ballot. Zero chance of that happening naturally. A vote-flipping algo was used across the country. Please read here:
https://thiswillhold.substack.com/p/ex-cia-whistleblower-the-nsa-audited
I hate to break this to you folks but other than taking them out, one by one, behind the dumpsters at 7/11 the only way to get rid of the people who gerrymander the voting districts in your state and work actively to get qualified voters off the voting rolls in your County, State or USA Congress is to elect someone else. VET your candidates and ask what they have done or plan to do to enlist impartial, computerized. Voter districting systems, in your area, State and nationwide. These computers and computer programs are used in Federal and State Court cases to determine if districts are fairly defined, by impartial criteria, into voting districts based on geographic location and population, without reguard to political parties, race, economics or other factors. If that candidate elected supports one person, one vote, let the districts fall where they should. Weigh this with other things vital to your needs. as far as their policies and actions, if they do become your elected reps. Our democracy depends on it.