Jonathan Richards at Survival Acres starts us off this week with the terrifying 2nd American Holocaust - His opening statement, that there "is a distinct possibility, according to some researchers, that North America will undergo a massive purging of 'undesirables'. In some respects, this is already underway..." may be shocking, but read on. This well-documented essay on the abuse of power by the Bush administration builds to the frightening conclusion that we may have already seen the end of democracy in the U.S.A.Hell's Handmaiden gets our attention with the provocative title Homosexuals and Child Rape? - Of course, the post is not about sex, but about the erosion of civil rights based on group membership. Many fundamentalists fight against same-sex marriage because they believe that homosexuals are more prone to be pedophiles (an unproven and ridiculous claim). Following that chain of logic (punishing all members of a class for the perceived wrongs of a few) he winds up asking, "If most white-collar crime is committed by white men, do we pass laws to pre-emptively prevent such behavior- for example, by making it illegal to hire white men for accounting or management positions?" Absurd, yes - but just as absurd as banning gay marriage.
Rennypolis gives us this post about What Does Defense Spending Mean for Democracy? - President Eisenhower's warning about the growing power of the military-industrial complex has been ignored, and we must now deal with the consequences. "Historically, the larger and more complex the military apparatus becomes, the more hierarchical the state's political organization becomes - usually as a means of extracting more resources to pay for the military. Most of these influences will result in greater hierarchical organization of the central government, meaning that there will be a growing amount of actions taken by the government with less input from its citizens."
Abu Sahajj of the Wa Salaam blog gives us a unique perspective on the Arab Criticism of Democracy - Basically, the argument runs that the U.S. may act democratically within our own borders (barely), but does not uphold those values on the international stage. Therefore, these leaders say, democracy is a scam and all governments are basically authoritarian. An interesting argument, but Abu thinks we can give a better example of democracy by working towards a peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Mike Wallach of Divided We Stand explains Why You Should Vote Like Me -or- I can't get no satisfaction - This post - in fact, his whole blog - is an argument for divided government. Mike's basic political tenets are that "single party control always results in fiscal irresponsibility" and that limited government is best. He explains his arguments and then tell us how we, too, can become "Dividocrats."
The final carnival entry of the day is not to a particular blog post, but to an entire web site called the Subversion of Democracy (dot org) - "We are calling for statements, evidence, analysis, and the indictment of the present administration on both domestic and international grounds. We are asking all candidates for public office to declare where they stand on the most fundamental of national issues: the corruption of politics, the abuse of power, the threat to democracy."
I receive many more entries each two weeks than I care to put in one carnival posting. I thank all who did submit, whether or not I used your post.
Thank you for joining us on our bi-weekly look at the decline of democracy (and occasionally hopeful responses to it). The next edition of the Carnival will be posted on Monday, September 11th, with entries requested by Saturday, September 9, at midnight.
Yeah, that's right. The next edition will be posted on the 5th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. If you can work that into your post, that could be very interesting.
Submit your blog post for the next edition of the carnival of the decline of democracy using our carnival submission form. More information on future carnivals can be found on our carnival home page.
Tags: carnival of the decline of democracy, blog carnival, politics, American government, freedom, Bush, democracy
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