Americans
take pride in their “Democratic Values” and American Presidents have repeatedly
called themselves “Champions of Democracy”. Heck, they even fought a 44 year
long Cold War to promote Democracy in the world against the Communist bloc led
by the former USSR. But as liberal as it may seem, this was not the actual
cause of their fight against the Soviets, or the reason for the original 13
colonies’ War of Independence against the British monarchy. All the Founding
Fathers were rich White Europeans who came to escape the monarchical rulers.
After
consulting the Merriam-Webster dictionary, I have realized that USA is more of
a Plutocracy rather than a Democracy. It is rarely mentioned, that the
Constitution the founders crafted was designed to secure economic power for
themselves, and that economic power has been the ultimate foundation of
political power for all of human history. Political power ultimately resides
with those who control our access to a means of living. When that access is
controlled by the few, the result is plutocracy—a reality deeply embedded in
both U.S. and world history. The wealthy Founding Fathers put their lives and
well-being on the line to get an independent country but it was not as selfless
of an act as it seems. A separation from Britain for self-governance would mean
that the wealthy white people could create laws to maximize their own wealth
and power.
The
new constitution prevented one person to keep all the power and shape all the
rules. Instead they made a congress and held elections but eligibility to vote
was given only to wealthy white property owners therefore securing the power
for people like themselves. Thus the original constitution secured slavery,
helped the founding fathers to gain more wealth and not pay heavy taxes to the
monarch. Even today these rights have not been given out completely in
practice. Still today, Trump prefers to support the National Rifle Association
and not the general public which wants harsher gun laws to prevent school
shootings and gang wars. The people no longer trust the Institutions. In a 2018
Gallup poll on confidence in US Institutions, the Congress was rock bottom.
Only 11% people expressed “a great deal of confidence” or “quite a lot of
confidence” in Congress.
Donald
Trump has come under a lot of fire for his policies. He never was a politician.
He is a business man and he paid his way to the Presidency and it shows. Only 1
out of 44 US Presidents was a black person. Never has a woman been elected as a
President. So much for all the talk of women empowerment. The fact of the
matter is that the system is rigged and it will take a lot more than just a
Black Lives Matter movement and voter enthusiasm to reform it. Changing
Plutocracy to Democracy is not for the faint-hearted.
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