WHY WESTERN DEMOCRACY ISN'T WORKING EXCEPT FOR ITS ELITES

There are two main conditions regarding the state of nations. Relative poverty & affluence.

These conditions determine the mode of behavior of populations in regard to authority figures.

If people are in large part poor they will tend to unify in hopes to elect wise leaders and forego individual independence in favor of the general good. However, those who are highly privileged within such a society will tend to be those who have gained most wealth by a degree of ruthless egotism and it is they who tend to present themselves as candidates for election. Systems are generally arranged so that only such candidates can stand, through prerequisites that exclude most others.    

If a nation is in large part affluent the greediest among them will want and ensure the most ignorant and/or corruptible/irresponsible leaders to be elected so their criminality remains free from inspection. Such people will ensure that either others of like mind to them or malleable ciphers receive maximum funding for their campaigns and so dominate the political ethos of the nation.

Where democracy works for the general betterment of society rather than for the minority of wealthiest individuals or their corporate interests the likelihood is that it arises in desperately unequal and generally poor societies where an individual manages to garner the support of the poor to such an extent that the usual methods of the manipulative rich are surmounted. However, such figures, when they attempt to change the status quo by introducing land reform or nationalization in attempts to distribute wealth and life chances more broadly then become a target for removal. If this eventuality arises, as seen in Latin America, the elites start to use every method in their power to disrupt the change from the status quo which benefits them to the revolutionary acts which bring benefit to the relatively poor majority. Historically, the elites of the USA, distant cousins in spirit of these elites, assist with the fomenting of coups or even assassinations.

In normal situations, where a figure such as Hugo Chavez, does NOT arise the political scene is dominated by the elites spoken of above. Where a generally more affluent society exists and less charismatic but genuine challengers with integrity arise such as Jeremy Corbyn in the United Kingdom or Bernie Sanders in the USA, they are subjected to campaigns organized by the status quo-loving elites to neutralize them, denigrate them, slander them and every possible elite channel such as mass media is used against them.

Internationally the same holds true. Leaders of nations which do not align themselves with the dominant elites of the West, in a similar way to those rare individuals mentioned above who are acted against with maximum venom and vindictiveness, are treated similarly. Such leaders as Vladimir Putin of Russia for instance and, to an ever-greater extent, Xi Jinping of China. (Xi is a more difficult challenge for them however due to the economic power of China and the degree to which it holds western elite debt.) Russia presents a weak enough target and the western elites invariably pick the weakest target available at any one time. China is clearly being targeted too... but Russia has been chosen as the first and weakest target to partially use as a warning to others who would challenge the global status quo.

The global status quo which western elites are now desperately attempting to shore up, defend and maintain to the maximum degree possible, has been long-held as their right and privilege as the most powerful elites of modern times, as demonstrated by WWII and the undermining and destruction of the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact union of states. Maintaining this status quo with the patrician dominance of western elites and their allies parallels the situation mentioned above in Latin America where local elites determine to maintain power over all others and enlist the help of the elites of other nations (USA in this example) to assist.

The elites primarily of the USA and UK, with assistance from those of most of western Europe have a strong incentive to neutralize the effect and economic power of others not aligned with them. They will use every method available to them which parallel the methods used against the example figures above, Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders. These methods are quite obvious in their ruthlessness (such as the constant slandering of such figures as Vladimir Putin, Bashar al-Assad and others) but western mass media and that of western allies will not convey this in any way, shape or form and thus normalize such behavior.

Such realities and behaviors, for the reasons given initially, are not subject to change via the so-called democracy that is so lauded by the elites of the West and is still agreed to by a perhaps surprising number of its long-suffering populations.

Two quotations from Albert Einstein are apposite here:

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.”

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

The reasons delineated in the text above are why, in my opinion western democracy can never work, not while the factors exist as I have described them. At least not as long as ‘greed’, ‘overweening privilege’, ’self-interest’ and ‘rampant ambition’ dominate political life and the status quo maintained by those who have risen to power driven by such characteristics, and who then see all rivals as enemies to denigrate and defeat.

If you ask me, “What is the alternative?” I would have to answer a revolution from below such as Bernie Sanders has called for avoiding any of the characteristics in the previous paragraph including taking ANYTHING from elite sources including funding. Then, once in power, moving to maximize socialism and fiercely regulate capitalist enterprise to keep it ethical. In due course there would be no second party as the elite cabal would no longer have the will of the people behind them in anything like sufficient quantities, only the fascistic greedy, already privileged, self-interested and overly ambitious would support them and, in my ideal scenario they would be vastly outnumbered by those content with the wise leaders they trust due to the resultant vastly happier society they have created.

For an example in progress I would point to Russia, but to an even greater extent to China.

Democracy may take western nations to a de facto one party system if things become bad enough (and all indicators point to this). In order for such a fundamental change to occur where the present elites of the West, enormously powerful as they are, are successfully removed from power and the present status quo is undermined, a whole new paradigm opens up potentially leading to the global cooperation required to face the future with pride, in civilized unity.