| Did Trump’s election resolve anything? Is
it the best our democracy can do? And more importantly, is Establishment
politics dying?
Whatever you think of Donald Trump, his
election is one big middle finger to the Establishment. It’s part of the
worldwide rise of “People Power.”
The People Power trend, while at a ripe
old age in nations such as Switzerland — one of the wealthiest, most democratic
countries in the world where its people vote on issues that affect their
lives and livelihoods, and not political parties — is now growing globally.
Direct Democracy, anathema in America, the
Land of the Free where the two-party Congressional Gang of 535 runs and
rules the lives of 320 million citizens, found new life in Mother England
when the people voted to put their future in their own hands.
In a stunning upset to the status quo, on
June 23, by a 52 to 48% majority, United Kingdom citizens voted to leave
the European Union, despite pressure from world leaders and higher
financial authorities telling them to remain.
From President Obama to Japanese Premier
Shinzo Abe, from International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine
Lagarde to Wall Street’s biggest and boldest… dire warnings of end-of-world
consequences were issued if the public voted to leave the holy altar of the
almighty, infallible European Union.
Beyond the UK’s Brexit, there is
widespread disgust with the entrenched ruling parties that have been
running most European nations since the end of World War II and the
centralized control from a supranational Brussels bureaucracy.
|
Beyond the UK’s
Brexit, there is widespread disgust with the entrenched ruling parties
that have been running most European nations since the end of World War
II
|
Among the key elements that the “Leave”
campaign tapped into is the anti-establishment current spreading throughout
Europe.
For example, in a paper co-authored by
Will Jennings, a professor of politics at the University of Southampton,
wrote, “Citizens now describe their ‘hatred’ for politicians who made them
‘angry’, ‘incensed’, ‘outraged’, disgusted’ and sickened.”
He said the words used to describe
politicians are arrogant, boorish, corrupt, creepy, devious, loathsome,
lying, parasitical, pompous, shameful, sleazy, slippery, spineless,
traitorous weak and wet. (FT, 16 June 2016).
Thus, the People Power trend — fueled in
Europe by the growing contempt for the ruling elite, the loss of power of
national governments to centralized powers, high unemployment, falling
wages and a declining standard of living blamed on globalization — is fueling
Direct Democracy movements across the continent.
Immediately following June’s Brexit vote,
several populist European parties pledged to launch referendums to “leave
or remain” in the 28-member EU bloc. Politician Geert Wilders, leader of
the Dutch Party for Freedom, called the Brexit vote “historic” and said,
“Now it’s our turn. I think the Dutch people must now be given the chance
to have their say in a referendum.”
And, with polls showing that more than 40%
of Brexit supporters cited immigration as the most important factor in
deciding how to vote — blaming cheap migrant labor for the loss of jobs and
human waves of refugees and migrants for a loss of national identity —
“keep them out” anti-immigration movements will intensify throughout
western nations.
For example, on October 2, Hungary held a
referendum to reject European Union quotas demanding they accept refugees.
While the current take-back-their-country
referendum movements spreading across Europe are anti-Brussels super-state
rule from bureaucratic overlords and disenchantment with career
politicians, financial elites and an entrenched establishment, the Direct
Democracy trend that will spread throughout advanced nations is bigger than
Brexit.
The establishment party was also unseated
in Italy this month for much the same reason. There’s even talk of Italy
dropping the euro and returning to the lira.
Appropriately administered by putting We
the People in charge of our destiny, rather than obeying self-serving
politicians and bloated bureaucrats that enrich the few at the expense of
the many, Direct Democracy provides a blueprint for the revolutionary
advancement of society.
Non-violent, intellectually and
philosophically sound, emotionally empowering and potentially unstoppable,
“In due time, the voice of the people will be heard and their latent wisdom
will prevail,” Thomas Jefferson wrote.
However, as illustrated by my dear friend,
Thomas Naylor, may his soul rest in peace, depending on the size and
composition of nations, there are formidable challenges that must be
addressed. In assessing the pros and cons of Direct Democracy in the United
States, in part he wrote:
Switzerland is a tiny, well-educated, hard-working country
with a strong sense of community. The United States is not Switzerland.
For starters, retrofitting the U.S. Constitution and legal
system to accommodate Direct Democracy would require the expertise of a
plethora of constitutional scholars and legal experts. For those legal
scholars and political scientists up to the challenge of designing such a
complex system, courage and dedication will be required.
A process would also have to be developed to bring important
issues to the table for consideration by a nationwide referendum. And then
there is the matter of the computer network and software required to make
Internet voting work. Although introducing Direct Democracy into the United
States sounds like a very good idea, it would involve a number of
conceptual, legal, constitutional, economic, technical and political
challenges. Such a move would require bold, creative leadership combined
with world-class marketing skills.
But the alternative is a nation whose government has lost
its moral authority and is tightly controlled by a self-serving
military/industrial/congressional complex accountable only to itself — a
nation that has become unsustainable economically, militarily, socially,
environmentally and politically. The United States is so large that it may
no longer be governable and has possibly become unfixable.
If there is a way out of our nation’s death spiral, Direct
Democracy just might be one of our last remaining viable options. We could
do a lot worse than emulate the Swiss.
Naylor founded the Second Vermont Republic
and was professor emeritus of economics at Duke University. Naylor
co-authored Affluenza, Downsizing the USA and The Search
for Meaning.
Naylor’s points are valid. There will be
legal hurdles to jump and political obstacles erected that must be
overcome. It will take passion and persistence to push the movement
forward.
One path of progress in establishing a
Direct Democracy is to redesign current antiquated systems with modernized
21st-century online voting. While opponents of Direct Democracy will
contend that online voting can be subject to hacking and fraud, it can be
far less susceptible than the current stuffing of ballot boxes or rigging
of voting machines.
|
Indeed, we bank
online and buy online; surely we can vote online!
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In fact, voting online, with full
transparency, would prove more secure than any polling place run by party
operatives. Indeed, we bank online and buy online; surely we can vote
online!
With fast-accelerating advancements in
technology, from artificial intelligence to virtual reality, the only
obstacles to online voting are the people’s will to make it happen vs. the
politicians and special interests benefiting from the current corrupt
system.
Indeed, the so-called representative
democracy form of government we adhere to in the West is a hoax… a cruel
sham, a bone thrown to the proles following the overthrow of the
aristocracies of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries that gulled the public
into believing members of political parties represent their interests… while,
as abundantly evidenced with spreading populist movements and the Brexit
vote, a vast majority recognize that the current political systems serve
special interests, not public interests.
Realistically, can Direct Democracy and
online voting become reality? “It does not take a majority to prevail… but
rather an irate, tireless minority, keen of setting brushfires of freedom
in the minds of men,” said Samuel Adams.
Never in modern history have the trend
lines for People Power — the freedom of a collective society to shape its
destiny rather than living under the dictates of political gangs — been
clearer.
As proven by Brexit and the election of
Donald Trump (agree or disagree with the vote), the “brushfires of freedom”
were not set by “an irate tireless minority,” but rather an irate
anti-establishment, anti-status quo, anti-elite, anti-centralized power,
anti-globalization majority.
And for all his faults, Donald Trump
represents the awakening of American “People Power.”
Regards,
Gerald Celente
for The Daily Reckoning
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1 comment:
The press is still taking pot shots against Trump and the left wing twits in Hollywood aren't cutting him any slack either...of course, what have any of them done to help out mainstream Americans?
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