General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Remember the old Soviet Union? [View all]leveymg
(36,418 posts)that western governments count on in order to contain, categorize and attempt to predict our political actions. Opinion groups in America are self-segregating and mutually self-cancelling, and except for those interests which wield effective, coordinated money influence in Washington, can safely be ignored by decision-makers while being closely monitored by internal security.
True opposition within an a real democracy requires that the majority have and actually use the power of the state over the state to make fundamental changes in the socio-economic order, and can change foreign policy by demonstrating opposition to wars. That is obviously not the case in America. Time and again, we see that efforts at fundamental reform are thwarted, despite overwhelming public mandate -- health policy, tax policy, Wall Street regulation -- and, as as the Iraq invasion showed, that by a combination of propaganda, deception, and isolation of dissent, military action can proceed, regardless, in the face of mass internal and global opposition.
That's not a conspiracy theory, it's manifestly the case. What we call democracy isn't.