Many people think that America is a good example of a democratic country.
I used to think so myself.
However, since the last presidential election, I changed my mind.
I watched the speeches by Senator Bernie Sanders, who contested the Democratic primary election.
He explained that America government is controlled by the billionaires. They used their money to "buy elections".
How is this done?
In America, the election results are influenced to a large extent by advertising on television and the media. This cost a lot of money.
The candidates from both parties need the financial support of the big donors, who are usually the billionaires, to finance their campaign. The winners are usually the candidates with the most financial resources.
In return for the financial support, the elected politicians to return the favor. The pass laws that are favorable to the businesses, and bad for working people The give tax breaks to the super rich.
The ordinary people get disillusioned with the political process and reacted by refusing to vote. This worked well for the super rich.
Over the past three decades, the gap between the super rich, the top 0.1% and the ordinary people became wider and wider.
America has very high inequality, probably among the worse in the world, at least among the developed countries. This is hardly democratic.
A lot of ordinary people do not earn enough to meet the cost of living. Their society becomes quite fractious.
The people in power than pass laws and regulations to make it difficult for ordinary people to vote. This can hardly be called "democratic".
To be frank, Singapore is not a good example of democracy either. We have out own set of problems, such as GRCs. We also have high inequality.
In some respects, we are still better off than America, but in other respects, we are worse off. For example, we fared badly on the "freedom of the press".
But the media in America is not a shining example either. It is also "bought" by the super rich. They play a part in promoting the agenda of their owners, who are the super rich.
Maybe it is better to have the system like in China. Forget about flawed democracy. Forget about corrupt democracy.
Maybe not China.
The best example of a working democracy is Switzerland. They have quarterly referendums where they ask the people to vote on government policies.
Tan Kin Lian
I used to think so myself.
However, since the last presidential election, I changed my mind.
I watched the speeches by Senator Bernie Sanders, who contested the Democratic primary election.
He explained that America government is controlled by the billionaires. They used their money to "buy elections".
How is this done?
In America, the election results are influenced to a large extent by advertising on television and the media. This cost a lot of money.
The candidates from both parties need the financial support of the big donors, who are usually the billionaires, to finance their campaign. The winners are usually the candidates with the most financial resources.
In return for the financial support, the elected politicians to return the favor. The pass laws that are favorable to the businesses, and bad for working people The give tax breaks to the super rich.
The ordinary people get disillusioned with the political process and reacted by refusing to vote. This worked well for the super rich.
Over the past three decades, the gap between the super rich, the top 0.1% and the ordinary people became wider and wider.
America has very high inequality, probably among the worse in the world, at least among the developed countries. This is hardly democratic.
A lot of ordinary people do not earn enough to meet the cost of living. Their society becomes quite fractious.
The people in power than pass laws and regulations to make it difficult for ordinary people to vote. This can hardly be called "democratic".
To be frank, Singapore is not a good example of democracy either. We have out own set of problems, such as GRCs. We also have high inequality.
In some respects, we are still better off than America, but in other respects, we are worse off. For example, we fared badly on the "freedom of the press".
But the media in America is not a shining example either. It is also "bought" by the super rich. They play a part in promoting the agenda of their owners, who are the super rich.
Maybe it is better to have the system like in China. Forget about flawed democracy. Forget about corrupt democracy.
Maybe not China.
The best example of a working democracy is Switzerland. They have quarterly referendums where they ask the people to vote on government policies.
Tan Kin Lian
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