The
founding fathers sought to create a nation where one's own avarice and
willingness to exploit would define who becomes a social elite. By drafting a
constitution that did not allow African Americans, Native Americans, women or
non-landholding whites to vote, they also ensured that the government would
work hand-in-hand with private interests to always serve the interests of the
new elites.
The
colonies were founded as investments, funded by London bankers and the British monarchy,
seeking as high a return as possible on their investment. The Revolutionary War
allowed the new elites to leave aristocratic Europe behind, but the model of
doing business ventures where no consideration is given to human or
environmental consequences continued unabated. In fact, through his land
speculation (i.e. pressuring Native Americans through various means to
relinquish their lands), George Washington was soon among the wealthiest men in
the country.
The
founding US principles of the sacred right to pursue one's own personal avarice
to its always vanishing endpoint, the "conquest" {sic} of nature and
the scientifically risible invention of "race" are now running their
course. A culture that pursues such ideas is, in reality, pursuing ecocide, misery & alienation & attendant drug and alcohol abuse, empire, militarism, a police state, as well as a host of other unsustainable
conditions that are now collapsing under their own weight.
Democracy
must morph into inter-relationship with a land base by people and fellow beings
and places who know each other and who maintain a fluid conception of
leadership. I do not believe that mass society – defined, in theory, in the
political realm by leaders and citizens – has any future. It appears to be a mode
that is in collapse. True and direct democracy is where the needs of all, of
future generations, and of nonhumans are considered. In short, democracy will
return to land-based communities of scale where The Whole (as Gary Gripp terms
it) is part of daily living and daily decision-making.
