From: rhinoceros (rhinoceros@freemail.gr)
Date: Fri Oct 24 2003 - 11:46:17 MDT
[simul]
Democracy does not exist.
If it did, the majority would always find a way to tax the wealthy and strip them of their power....
[rhinoceros]
To examne this inference, we would have to examine the model it is built on and its assumptions, to define terms and categories, and to examine if it works this way. So:
1. What is "democracy"? (Ok, it is a mechanism for "the rule of the majority", whatever that means, but does it say it all?)
2. What is a "majority"? On what categorization is it defined, how does a categorization (e.g. rich vs poor, or prestigious vs common folks, or educated vs uneducated) becomes more dominant than others, how static is a "dominant" categorization, how stable is a majority and how is it formed?
3. What is a "majority's will", how is it related to individual wills and to different categorizations and how can we figure it out?
4. What is an individual will and how is it formed? How stable is the loyalty of individual wills to a majority will, as they individuals find themselves closer to the separating line, or hope that they are going to cross the line, or they are resigned and enjoy watching the other side of the line.
5. What is (social) power, how does it come to be, why and how it persists and reemerges through all kinds of social transformations?
In a few words: Wealth and power are emerging and reemerging at all places and at all times. That should mean something. Even revolutions against power routinely fall back to the same patern sooner or later.
As I understand it, whenever a categorization is made dominant, and a stable "majority will" is formed around it, and that "majority will" questions the current distribution of wealth or power, the times are ripe for a big change (be it democratic, revolutionary, or just plain "sneaky").
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