>Status: U >To: "Jeremiah Gelles" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: COMMENTS ON "DEMOCRACY" >From: "JERRY GELLES" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Reply-To: "JERRY GELLES" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >X-Priority: 3 (normal) >Date: Wed, 3 Nov 2004 22:33:39 -0500 >X-ELNK-AV: 0 > >Dear Friends, et al. > >Democracy, true democracy, is impossible so long as there >are classes and one class, a small minority, owns and controls all the >media, all the educational establishments, all the means of >production, the factories, the banks, the farms, the commercial real >estate, etc. >Under these circumstances, there can only be a dictatorship, however >well disguised, of one class or another. >So long as the overwhelming majority of people, who own and control >nothing, are unaware of this reality, the rulers can continue to do what >they please and democracy is no more than a sham, a figleaf for >their dictatorship. These elections illustrate this well. > >Two millionaires running to see who will be best at winning the war >in Iraq. Who will be best at maintaining a high profit level for >business. Who will be best a providing as little in the way of >public services and health care without making it seem like that is >what is being done. Who will be best at "protecting" us against >"terror" when terrorism is just an excuse to maintain US control of >most of the world with military bases, a massive navy, a massive air >force, and enough nuclear weapons to incinerate the planet. And the >purpose of this exercise of imperial power is to ensure that the >world's resources, labor, and markets, to the extent that it is >possible, are under US control. Right now the principal resource is >oil, the life blood of modern industrial society. > >The next stage in the war that the US must wage is in Iran. (Don't >be confused by propaganda about weapons of mass destruction and >North Korea. North Korea has no oil. North Korea is only of interest >to the US as part of a plan to encircle China.) Iran has oil and, >as important, is making deals with China for that oil as the >forwarded e-mail from Sean describes. Iran is also important to >maintain as tight a noose around the old Soviet Union as possible. >Iran also borders Afghanistan, a crucial link to Central Asia and >major energy supplies. There, too, is western approach to China. > >There has been no time in history during which US foreign policy has >been organized around humanitarian concerns. The hypothesis that >humanitarian concerns motivates US policy has no explanatory power >whatsoever in interpreting US behavior in the world. Just one >example, Uzbekhistan is a horrid dictatorship as are many US friends >and allies. > >The US is a dictatorship of a very small, highly organized and >centralized ruling class which has been well described by Domhoff >and many others. This is not a conspiracy theory. The ruling class >and its intellectual and political lap dogs is made up of definable >and nameable people, organized into groups and think tanks that are >well known and public in most cases but many of whose meetings are >not public. These organizations are, among others, the Council on >Foreign Relations, the CED, Brookings, Rand, Business Roundtable, >Wall Street Firms such as Sullivan and Cromwell, major industrial >firms such as Ford, GM. Chrysler, Boeing, McDonald Douglas, Exxon, >Mobil, Amoco, major financial organizations such as Citibank, Chase, >etc., major educational institutions such as Harvard and Columbia >University. > >Do they have absolute control? No. The country is too diverse as the >election shows. But the Patriot Act and more to come is the >harbinger of what they want to do: curtail civil liberties and >rights, centralize power, outlaw dissent, spread fear. All of this >was implicitly or explicitly presented in the report that I have >referenced many times, "21st Century Terrorism and National Security >- U.S. Commission on National Security Hart-Rudman Commission >Reports." This report is available on the web. Most importantly the >ruling class needs to win a substantial portion of the population >to support their aggressive military adventures abroad leading >ultimately to WW III. > >Jerry > >None of this has anything to do with human rights, freedom, democracy, >> ----- Original Message ----- ) >> From: "devmani jaitly" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> Sent: Wednesday, November 03, 2004 5:25 PM >> Subject: Democracy ! >> >> >> > Unfortunately, Democracy does not mean that people >> > will always make the right choice. >> > >> > >> > >> > __________________________________ >> > Do you Yahoo!? >> > Check out the new Yahoo! Front Page. >> > www.yahoo.com >> > >> > >> >>
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