> It's an empirical fact that democracy is on the way out. In 1981, 35% of
> the world's population lived under "free" political systems, by 1996 the
> number fallen to 19%. [1]
>
Well, with democracies only in name, such statistics doesn't make
much sense.
> Why? Even if democracy weren't run by the rich, it STILL can't "solve"
> problems because it's "process" politics instead of "systems" politics.
>
> "As the name implies, process politics emphasizes the adequacy and fairness
> of the rules governing the process of politics. If the process is fair,
> then, as in a trial conducted according to due process, the outcome is
> assumed to be just -- or at least the best the system can achieve. By
> contrast, systems politics is concerned primarily with desired outcomes;
> means are subordinated to predetermined ends." [2]
>
How do you know what's it like when it is not run by the rich?
The primaly desired outcome is to satisfy first the basic than
other needs. Democracy assures than the outome is always just,
or as just as possible, all there is for the democratic process to do
is to find the best possible way.
I cannot see the distiction
Eva
> But in a world of Limits to Growth, a civilization either "solves" its
> problems or the day must come when it "collapses":
>
> "Energy has always been the basis of cultural complexity and it always will
> be. . the past clarifies potential paths to the future. One often-discussed
> path is cultural and economic simplicity and lower energy costs. This could
> come about through the "crash" that many fear - a genuine collapse over a
> period of one or two generations, with much violence, starvation, and loss
> of population. The alternative is the "soft landing" that many people hope
> for - a voluntary change to solar energy and green fuels, energy-conserving
> technologies, and less overall consumption. This is a utopian alternative
> that, as suggested above, will come about only if severe, prolonged hardship
> in industrial nations makes it attractive, and if economic growth and
> consumerism can be removed from the realm of ideology." [3]
>
> We are now feeling Limits to Growth, and democracies are collapsing into
> authoritarian systems. This then is the political problem imposed on
> democracies by immutable biophysical laws: solve or collapse.
>
> Jay
> ---------------
> [1] p. 43, DARWINISM, DOMINANCE, AND DEMOCRACY: The Biological Bases of
> Authoritarianism, by Albert Somit and Steven A. Peterson; Review at
> http://info.greenwood.com/books/0275958/0275958175.html
>
> [2] p. 242, ECOLOGY AND THE POLITICS OF SCARCITY REVISITED; Ophuls, 1992.
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0716723131
>
> [3] COMPLEXITY, PROBLEM SOLVING, AND SUSTAINABLE SOCIETIES, by Joseph A.
> Tainter, 1996; http://dieoff.com/page134.htm
>
>
>
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