Griper Blade: It's a Lot Easier for the Rich to Get Richer Without Democracy

One of the few things that left and right can agree on (though the right will only do so grudgingly) is that, regardless of how you counted the disputed votes in Florida, Al Gore won the popular vote in 2000. If the concept of "one person, one vote" were anything other than a lie, we wouldn't be talking about "Bush tax cuts" right now. Democracy in America is more of a conceptual thing than an actual thing. And it's becoming more conceptual all the time. As the world changes, our access to democracy is changing as well.

One of the biggest threats to democracy and the average voter has been the rise of capitalism in China. Not because of the competition -- we've had credible competitors many, many times in our history -- but because it has proven to the professional investor class in America that democracy and freedom aren't essential to thriving capitalism. Sure, there have been economic success stories in less than free nations before, but generally speaking these have involved luck; an abundant natural resource that can be exploited, maybe. Saudi Arabia would be an example of this.

But China is an oppressive system that has seen the rise of a manufacturing base. They don't have to worry about environmentalists or (ironically) unions. As a result, they are pure capitalism -- maybe the purest known to exist -- with few restrictions and even fewer beneficiaries. They have gone from communism to oligarchy and there are more than a few would-be oligarchs in the US who look at China with one thought in mind; "I want that."...[CLICK TO READ FULL POST]