Why does our democracy no longer appear to work?

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We no longer have a Democracy - government by will of the citizens. What we have is a Plutocracy - government by will of the wealthy.

Now that I've pointed out the elephant in the room, what can we do to get rid of it?

Increase taxes on the wealthy? That will only give more money to the government to spend on the very industries that made the wealthy people wealthy in the first place! This is only a way to force the wealthy to re-invest in their own industries; it does not give any of the money from increased taxes to the people occupying those industries.

Have the government seize control of the industries? C'mon .... the government can barely manage itself! How can anyone expect the government to run socialized industry, or even socialized medicine, when the only management solutions the government has are to increase the bureaucracy, raise taxes, or send in the Armed Forces, all while blaming the "Other Party" for the failure of the industry in the first place?

Oppression of women evolved too - that's how churches came about. That kind of de facto morality is always shifting, it's culturally dependent. And a lot of NT philosophers will insist that morality is culturally dependent. But that's not autistic morality, which is very clear because it depends on reality.

What is meant by autistic morality? Do you mean: Telling the truth, whistle blowing etc?

Well you would be right, NT's only tell the truth if they think they absolutely have to and they know they cannot get away with lying.

Regarding fairness:
The downtrodden are always the people interested in fairness. If everything in life were distributed fairly, they would have MORE than they do presently.
Wealthy or otherwise powerful people are not interested in fairness, as it would result in them having LESS.
It's all about having and getting, as usual.

I think any autistic has two possible kinds of morality. First what I've called autistic morality, which results from a direct connection to the real world. That's how you get the golden rule, etc. Secondly a fear-based, 'philosophical' morality that comes from hiding in orderly systems and holding onto concepts - I see that a lot around here in response to overwhelm. An NT has instead of our first way their hierarchic morality, where it's okay for the strong to hurt the weak because their DNA doesn't see beyond their immediate family. It's shortsighted DNA, as opposed to DNA that knows its role in the information flow of the universe.

Like I pointed out in another thread:

I don't know from autistic morality, but most of the founders were Romanophiles... They had a very romantic view of the Roman Republic and their stoic ethical system.

Stoic ethics demand that the Patricians act benevolently toward society.

The American pattern used to be, make your fortune when you're young, then, once you're financially independent (and beyond influence), you show your virtue by serving the republic as a benevolent statesman.

Okay, that never actually happened, but people used to fake it a lot better than they do today.

These days, when selfishness is considered a virtue, is just a Social Darwinian, dog-eat-dog mess.

PS

The Roosevelts (Teddy & Franklin) and the Kennedys would be the last examples of American Patricians.

i dont think we have ever really had a democracy. if you look at government today then you'd know that when you go to the polls to vote for them you are invariably left with the choice of voting between two identical parties who both suck and the members of the parties are all embarrassments no one wants to vote for but you have to grit your teeth and do it because you have no other choice. worse still you vote for these people with the knowledge that their interests are not yours they are those of the rich, businesses, employers, the "market" which is always spoken of as if it were some wild beast- uncontrollable and in need of placating, or the economy. you don't elect the rich or the bosses or the employers whose interests the government serves. and also you do not get any say in the decisions that the government makes and when the majority of the population wants something to be done it is sometimes disregarded by the pollies if it is not seen as beneficial for them. and if the government fails to lead properly then you are stuck with them for their set term during which they are free to do whatever they want. this undemocratic state extends to the workplace too. you don't elect the boss and you don't set the rules for the governing of the work place.

Exactly, human nature is human nature.

As for why democracy has never worked ever, because it's impossible for power to be distributed equally and there are too many conflicting interests and among those with shared interests there is inner conflict. It will always degenerate into tyranny of the masses.

I think I get what you are saying. That most NT's cannot get passed their instincts, whereas most Autistics can sit and think about what is the right thing to do. We can think about what should be done, instead of thinking about what we can get away with doing?

I'm honestly not sure anyone can get past their instincts. Ours would then be different.

The eternal battle between The Many and The Few. The Few generally win by hoodwinking the Many.

ruveyn

True, power is granted to a few by many under the assumption that the few will serve their interests.

The democracy part is just an act to distract us all from the real issues......if the majority of people think they can vote for president and that it will actually change things then why would they bother looking into who's really running things and take a look around at how screwed up everything is.

And suppose they did. Then what?

ruveyn

Then they would start getting a little freaked out that people are becoming aware and do anything they can to supress the truth.

do you really think it ever worked?