WHO IS KILLING DEMOCRACY?
The book highlights the problems of capitalism and capitalist production and how these structures impact the political and societal landscape.
As per Adam Smith in the book - The Wealth of Nation in 1776, - a free market is able to automate and regulate itself, but it is limited by the privileges given to certain members within the economy.
This is a thought-provoking book that delves into the intricate workings of our economic and political systems. Through a comprehensive analysis, J. Dhopte exposes the hidden forces and individuals responsible for rigging the system in favour of the wealthy and powerful.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
The author J. Dhopte got a degree in mechanical engineering, diploma in marine engineering and master’s in financial management. He worked in Merchant Navy for 10 years, travelling across the globe on ships. He had a border-less career in maritime, plastic, service, hospitality and education industries with opportunities to work in various locations around the world. Currently, he is working as a Professor.
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EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK
Authoritarian capitalism is more than just wealthy people throwing their weight around; it's systemic and threatening democracy itself. We are used to hearing how capitalism goes hand-in-hand with freer, more democratic societies. But it's not always so. When wealth becomes concentrated among the very few, the stage can be set for totalitarianism and the destruction that totalitarianism inevitably brings.
The overall issue with capitalism is that it creates a level of economic inequality and political disparity between citizens and large corporations. A perfect example of this is the pharmaceutical industry in the United States. Because the U.S. doesn’t regulate drug and supply prices, pharmaceutical companies have the advantage of negotiating contracts directly with hospitals and insurance providers, which in turn determine healthcare costs in the US. Because of this, many Americans are unable to financially support their medical bills and expenses.
Elites use institutions to manage citizen interactions. They apply their cultural dominance to make citizens echo the same pro-democracy ideas, even if they're just slogans. And this power also allows them to delegitimize fanatics and radicals. The elite have also helped reduce the level of citizen participation in democracies, as voicing your opinion and voting are all that is required, and all complex modes of engagement are left to the elites. Now, with the rapid de-legitimization of the elite, the world is increasingly seeing the rise of right-wing populists who provide "simple solutions to complex problems".
Whenever the profit-making impulse becomes deadlocked with the need to shield people from its harmful side effects, voters are tempted by the "fascist solution": reconcile profit and security by forfeiting civic freedom. Today, as in the nineteen-thirties, strongmen are ascendant worldwide, purging civil servants, subverting the judiciary, and bullying the press. Free markets can be crueler?than citizens will tolerate, inflicting a distress that he thinks is making us newly vulnerable to the fascist solution. However, today’s political impasse is different from that of the 1930s. It is being caused not by a stalemate between leftist governments and a reactionary business sector but by leftists in government who have reneged on their principles.
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Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
~Martin Luther King, Jr.
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The biggest threat to democracy is people’s lack of critical-thinking skills to be able to distinguish between information and misinformation. Among the more insidious effects of digital life has been a reduction in tolerance for long-form text. People, particularly the young, will read, but not if it involves more than a few paragraphs. Few among them will buy and read a book. News sites have discovered that more people will click on a video than scroll through the text of a story. Given how easy it now is to manipulate digital video images, given how easy it is to play to people’s preconceptions and prejudices, and given how indolent most in our society have become in seeking out news, opinion, and analysis, those who seek to deceive, distract, or bully now have the upper hand.
People will simply not seek out, read, or take time to understand positions they do not understand or do not agree with. A sizeable majority now lives with a thin collection of facts, distorted information, and an insufficient cognitive base from which to make a thoughtful decision. Accurate information is no longer driving out false ideas, propaganda, innuendo, or deceit."
People do not use the internet to research the issue; rather, they simply go with whatever biased opinion is put in front of them. The problem is that with the erosion of critical-thinking skills and true journalism, these tools are being used to spread false information. The public, made more gullible by a short attention span and eroding reasoning skills, becomes a malleable target for those who seek to erode the fundamental institutions of our democracy.
Power must shift away from corporations and back to the people. We are not socially responsible for the way in which our capitalist society is formed, but in some ways, as consumers, we hold the most power.?The people themselves need to rise to the responsibility and stop being complacent armchair critics.?We must resolve to see that whatever we do, we do not help the enemies of democracy to uproot the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity. If democracy lives, we are sure to reap the benefit of it. If democracy dies, it will be our doom.
Releasing on SUNDAY, 14th?APRIL -
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