American Democracy??? - We're living in an Oligarchy

As part of the required reading for my Intro to Philosophy class, I'm going through Plato's 'Republic.' It's a great book so far, and it's amazing the insights it offers and the uncanny relevance even to our modern times. By that I mean, in particular, the section on the different types of constitutions that exist within different cities.

Now, when talking about cities, I think he's referring to whole cultures, or countries. His analogy is based upon cities though because he's trying to explain what justice is and how it can be defined in regards to a city and to a man. Anyway, the five types of constitutions he mentions are the aristocratic, which he says is the most just. The second is Laconian, which honors victory and freedom above all else. The third is an Oligarchy, which values money and power. The fourth is a Democracy, which values freedom. And the fifth is a tyranny, which of course is about despotic, absolute rule.

What struck me most when I read through this book, and this section particularly, is how much we now resemble an Oligarchy. What this means in general is that our rulers are appointed, and maintain their rule, through property ownership and wealth. This is increasingly true in our country. You can't hope to win a high-level state or national office without vast sums of money. Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg spent over eighty five million dollars on his recent re-election campaign, for example.

Also there is an ever-increasing divide between the wealthiest and the rest of the citizenry. With Republicans in power, this gap has increased alarmingly fast. It will always increase, but the pace its at now is astounding. So, our rulers aren't necessarily the wisest or most moderate, as you'd find in a Platonic Aristocracy, but with an Oligarchy you have rulers whose greatest goal is more money and more power. Their only aim is to amass wealth, even at the expense of those they rule.

One interesting and relevant passage comes to mind here. I refer to this passage in reference to George Bush and the entire Republican part. "The treasure house filled with gold, which each possesses, destroys the constitution. First, they find ways of spending money for themselves, then they stretch the laws relating to this, then they and their wives disobey the laws altogether."

Here is another passage that is also appropriate to this argument. This quote deals with a tyrant and how he handles the public. "But I suppose that, when he has dealt with his exiled enemies by making peace with some and destroying others, so that all is quiet on that front, the first thing he does is to stir up a war, so that the people will continue to feel the need of a leader."

Continued..."Besides, if he suspects some people of having thoughts of freedom and of not favouring his rule, can't he find a pretext for putting them at the mercy of the enemy in order to destroy them? And for all those reasons, isn't it necessary for a tyrant to always stirring up war?"

For my mind, Plato could be writing an op-ed piece for the Washington Post about our current president. These quotes combine Socrates explanations of both a tyranical form of government and an Oligarchy. Neither of these is a wise or just constitution, or government, because they're ruled with not the interests of the whole, but only the interests of the few. And those few appointed rulers, they use fear, war and money to secure their place and dominate the majority.

We see examples everyday of wealth supporting wealth and not answering to the people. Recently the House overturned legislation from the 80's about food safety labeling. This was on the heels of two decades of food industry lobbying to strike this rule down. Now these multi-national food conglomerates no longer have to lable their food if it contains potentially harmful ingredients. And they no longer have to spend extra money on formulating healthy, quality products...they can profit ridiculously while our food, and us by effect, suffer.

Take another example, among many, in KBR, a subsidiary of Haliburton, formerly run by vice president Cheney. They've received many, many no-bid contracts from our government and they have repeatedly been under investigation for neglect, over charging, fraud and flat out stealing. They are mis-using American tax dollars with almost no oversight. Also look at our dealings with south and central american nations. Bush rammed CAFTA down their, and our, throats to appease his big corporate backers. Now there is less environmental regulations, less labor protections and fewer saftey laws in place for workers to our south, and big US corporate interests benefit immensley because of it.

Speaking to the quote about "stirring up war." This is a tactic used by a tyrant. We're living under the rule of a tyrant right now. A war taken up under false pretenses and prosecuted with folly and hubris. Another war now underfunded and generally forgotten. A nation living in fear everytime the color-coded warning level is conveniently raised. A war that takes the focus off of all the other horrible, misguided and damaging policies of this tyranical regime.

All we have to do is see things for what they really are. Bush is no leader, he's a tyrant. The Republican congress is not part of our Democracy anymore, but an Oligarchy. Together these two branches of our government are plotting to disable resistance, amass all the wealth that can be had and impose a dominating tyranny against its own people. Any time someone speaks out, they are slandered. Their tactics are simple, yet effective. Our so-called leaders attack the messenger rather than honestly debate the message. They lie, distort, and cover in shadow their true motivations and objectives, while yelling loudly about patriotism and duty. Don't be misled America, we're in a critical war alright...but not the one going on in Iraq and Afghanistan. There's a war right here in our own back yard. I didn't choose it, and you didn't choose it, but we have no choice but to fight it or else we will become irrelevant, oppressed and enslaved. Welcome to 1984, it's no longer allegorical...welcome to Plato's "Republic", it's no longer a hypothetical text with no bearing on today's society.

What the Dang!?!?

I haven't posted in almost two bloody weeks. That's unacceptable. I guess I'll just update on my fitness progress i suppose...nothing else seems worth noting right now. Oh, a few weeks back I did get pushed through a red light intersection by a drunk driver. He was literally pushing my car into the intersection as I had my brakes totally locked. That was not good. The fuzz took him down a little later though. I had the pleasure of seeing that jackass fail his drunk test and be stuffed into the cruiser.

Anyhow, I weighed myself this morning and I was 204. Somehow I felt ridiculous today though. It was as if my stomach was rebelling and decided to stick out extra to protest losing its stature. So I promptly came home and ran the treadmill for almost 40 minutes. I tried deflating my stomach with sharpened knitting needles, but that didn't go so well...insert warning to overly serious readers about not actually doing this, here.

So yeah, I'm still losing weight which is good. I think I'll probably hit my goal of being 200 or below by spring soccer. That starts around the 3rd weekend of April. It looks like I'm well on my way, and I still have over a month to go. Plus I've even learned some nice new juggling and dribbling items. Let's hope they translate to the pitch and not just stay in my basement.

Well that's it for now I guess. Oh! I know. I'll share some pics of my ideal soccer gear...









I know that all this stuff would look better on a thinner, faster me, but I'm going to be that me. I promise! So these are some rewards that I'll give myself for meeting different goals I have. The soccer ball will be first. Mainly because I have a decent pair of shoes and shorts for games already, and the Newcastle training shirt is kind of pricey. But, once I meet my goal of 185 pounds!!! Then I will get myself the shoes and maybe the shorts too. Whoa. Don't want to get too greedy.

Cheers!