Thursday, May 18, 2017

The Bowels Of Ignorance

Democratic government will work to the full advantage only if all the interests that matter are practically unanimous in their allegiance to the country and the structural principles of the existing society.

When these principles come into question, issues surface. Those issues divide the nation into two hostile camps. When that happens, democracy works at a disadvantage. And it will cease to work when interests and ideals refuse to compromise.


Joseph Schumpeter, the 1925 chair of the University of Bonn's Department of Economics, wrote those thoughts in his 1942 book Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy. Schumpeter goes into great detail describing different forms of government. He describes Marxist socialism, American capitalism, and others. Schumpeter describes democracy in simple as well as complicated terms.

Schumpeter said all capitalistic societies will adopt some form of socialism to survive. Capitalism is a self-destructive force. Capitalism always has to reinvent itself to grow. American greed capitalism reinvents itself at such a fast rate it is almost impossible for it to maintain balance and produce economic and social stability.

The election of Donald Trump in 2016 was more than a break in the established rules of politics. There was a lack of concern for repairing the current system in an orderly and agreeable way. That sketchy election confirmed greedy capitalism's ability to erode the structural principles of democracy. Destruction from that erosion may surpass all other periods in American history. The world is watching greedy capitalism destroy any allegiance it has to democracy and any allegiance it has to social and religious equality.

The inability of the American two-party system to agree on anything is a symptom of the self-induced illness that weakens democracy. American democracy is on life support, and greedy capitalism is on the critically ill list.

The 21st century is the dawn of social enlightenment. America will sit at the center of a new world order when greedy capitalism follows slavery into the bowels of ignorance.