Is The United States A Democracy?
"WHEN OUR STUDENTS ONLY LEARN ABOUT THIS EXCEPTIONALLY STRANGE SYSTEM FROM THEIR CORPORATE-PRODUCED HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT TEXTBOOKS, THEY HAVE NO CLUE WHY THIS IS HOW WE CHOOSE OUR PRESIDENT. MORE IMPORTANTLY, THEY DEVELOP A STUNTED SENSE OF THEIR OWN POWER -AND LITTLE REASON TO BELIEVE THEY MIGHT HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO CREATE SOMETHING BETTER."
To review: A voter in Montana gets 31 times the electoral bang for their presidential vote than a voter in New York. A voter in Wyoming has 70 times the representation in the Senate as a voter in California, while citizens in Puerto Rico or Washington D.C. have none. The Republican Senate majority that recently confirmed Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, was elected by 14 million?fewer?votes than the 47 senators who voted against her confirmation.
Yet politicians and pundits regularly pronounce the United States a “democracy,” as if that designation is self-evident and incontrovertible. Textbooks and mainstream civics curricula make the same mistake, treating democracy as a fact rather than an enduring struggle — in which our students can play a critical role.
The standard iteration of “civics” in schools stipulates the brilliance of the framers, the democratic nature of the U.S. system, the infallibility of the Constitution (it was built to be amended!), so that our institutions seem outside of history and beyond politics. As the?Koch Brothers-funded Bill of Rights (BRI) Institute?states,
Excerpts from ‘IRONY’:
IS SLAVERY ABOLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES?
The 13th Amendment to the US Constitution formally abolishing slavery in the United States was passed by the Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified by the states on December 6, 1865
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Penal labor in the United States, when intended as a form of slavery or involuntary servitude, is explicitly allowed by the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. This form of legal slavery is only allowed when used as punishment for committing a crime. The 13th Amendment states that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.?Detainees (un-convicted) awaiting trial cannot be forced to participate in forced rehabilitative labor programs in prison as it violates the Thirteenth Amendment.
Penal labor is sometimes used as a punishment in the U.S. military.
State laws became more and more restrictive because both slave master and legislator understood that in order to maintain dominance, ignorance has to be institutionalized and be pervasive. This was true for slavery and it is also true for present day political environment. Both politician and slave owner understood that the mixture of illiteracy, religion, and strict laws would lead to firmer control of the life of its subjects. The founding fathers of this great Republic (America), many of whom were slave owners, called for “a separation of church and state,” in their founding documents because they understood that “power corrupts and that absolute power corrupts absolutely”
.. BOTH SLAVE MASTER AND LEGISLATOR UNDERSTOOD THAT IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN DOMINANCE, IGNORANCE HAS TO BE INSTITUTIONALIZED AND BE PERVASIVE.
THIS WAS TRUE FOR SLAVERY AND IT IS ALSO TRUE FOR PRESENT DAY POLITICAL ENVIROMENT. BOTH POLITICIAN AND SLAVE OWNER UNDERSTOOD THAT THE MIXTURE OF ILLITERACY, RELIGION AND STRICT LAWS WOULD LEAD TO FIRMER CONTROL OF THE LIFE OF ITS SUBJECTS.
THE FOUNDING FATHERS OF THIS GREAT REPUBLIC (America), MANY OF WHOM WERE SLAVE OWNERS, CALLED FOR “A SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE,” IN THEIR FOUNDING DOCUMENTS BECAUSE THEY UNDERSTOOD THAT “POWER CORRUPTS AND THAT ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY”