In order to save democracy, we need to consider some important concepts, so we can solve these problems. Patterns in history show us, at a minimum, what we need to do to save our democracy.
We will NOT save democracy if we don’t restore the balance of power that the Republicans stole.
Maintaining the Balance of Power: The Concept of Countervailing Power
Please reflect on my statement here because we must ALWAYS consider the balance of power and what that means:
The tendency is for governments to fall to dictatorship because concentrated capital in the hands of one group leads to ruthless domination.
Concentrated capital is the accumulation of wealth in the hands of a few. This follows the old adage: Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Studying patterns in history, we see that governments fall due to the ruthless domination of a single group unless the forces that create concentrated capital are kept in check. Democrats have failed to keep them in check for over 40 years.
The New Deal Saved Democracy
Few Americans realize how close we came to losing democracy during the Great Depression. We had massive wealth inequality and great misery: economic collapse, massive unemployment, soup lines, homelessness, the Dust Bowl droughts, etc. Sounds very similar to today’s problems – the hostile rich are grabbing more money and power, just as they were back then.
In fact, on June 27, 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Acceptance Speech for the Renomination for the Presidency,” known more familiarly as his “Rendezvous with Destiny” speech, talked about how the concentration of capital threatened, not just the U.S. but the entire world.
Political tyranny was wiped out at Philadelphia on July 4, 1776.
Since that struggle, however, man's inventive genius released new forces in our land which reordered the lives of our people.. The age of machinery, of railroads; of steam and electricity; the telegraph and the radio; mass production, mass distribution—all of these combined to bring forward a new civilization and with it a new problem for those who sought to remain free.
We can modernize FDR’s words with the age of technology, of computers, mobile devices, artificial intelligence, social media, TV, etc.
He continues,
For out of this modern civilization economic royalists carved new dynasties. New kingdoms were built upon concentration of control over material things. Through new uses of corporations, banks and securities, new machinery of industry and agriculture, of labor and capital—all undreamed of by the fathers—the whole structure of modern life was impressed into this royal service.
There was no place among this royalty for our many thousands of small business men and merchants who sought to make a worthy use of the American system of initiative and profit. They were no more free than the worker or the farmer. Even honest and progressive-minded men of wealth, aware of their obligation to their generation, could never know just where they fitted into this dynastic scheme of things.
It was natural and perhaps human that the privileged princes of these new economic dynasties, thirsting for power, reached out for control over Government itself. They created a new despotism and wrapped it in the robes of legal sanction. In its service new mercenaries sought to regiment the people, their labor, and their property. And as a result the average man once more confronts the problem that faced the Minute Man.
The hours men and women worked, the wages they received, the conditions of their labor—these had passed beyond the control of the people, and were imposed by this new industrial dictatorship. The savings of the average family, the capital of the small business man, the investments set aside for old age—other people's money—these were tools which the new economic royalty used to dig itself in.
Sound familiar?
FDR talks about how governments turned to despotism and “wrapped it in the robes of legal sanction” and the “new industrial dictatorship” – governments in Europe were falling to dictatorships.
We nearly succumbed back then to become another similar pattern of history as forces pushed the U.S. close to the brink.
Countervailing Power: The Heart of the New Deal
The ingenuity of FDR’s administration was to use the concept of countervailing power. This is balancing the concentrated capital (power) in the hands of one group with an equal and opposite power on the other side. That way there is a balance, and neither side goes to the extreme, such as fascism, oligarchy, or communism.
We are experiencing what happens when one side gets too much power. Democracies are overthrown by the robber barons and fascists.
To maintain democracy, we must maintain the balance of power.
This is just a typical image from Government 101 balance of power, where government balances the workers’ power against the corporations and capital.
This concept is actually at the heart of the New Deal. Most people are familiar with a few of the New Deal social programs – part of our social safety net – such as Social Security, the minimum wage, pensions, unemployment insurance. However, there is so much more that the New Deal accomplished.
Adding social programs to overcome the great misery of the Great Depression would not have saved democracy by itself. Crucially, the New Deal created mechanisms that maintained the balance of power. This required sufficient polices and taxes to keep the greedy and ruthless from seizing control. The New Deal raised the standard of living of the rest of Americans, so there was no concentrated capital in one group. Also, the New Deal provided protections against fraud, exploitation, and corruption. The New Deal’s countervailing power, for example, strengthening labor and unions, saved us from dictatorship while many countries in Europe succumbed.
Balancing power means, at a minimum, reducing the income inequality by making the wealthy pay more in taxes, including a wealth tax. This increases the standard of living for the rest of Americans. Reducing wealth inequality is necessary to save democracy.
Countervailing Power: The Heart of Progressivism
Balancing the power is actually at the heart of progressivism. The New Deal is progressivism in action. Progressivism means caring about people and keeping the wealth imbalance under control, which is what we had with the New Deal & the Great Society until Reagan destroyed the unions and cut taxes, destroying that balance. Progressivism isn’t some extreme ideology. That’s propaganda and a misunderstanding. Don’t fall for the lies of the Republican propaganda. The Republicans want to control you and destroy democracy.
Republicans also use the “socialism” word to scare people. The truth is that capitalism without a counterbalance should scare us all. We are at the extreme of laissez-faire capitalism – fascism.
The New Deal Was Racist – We MUST Do Better
One thing to note, though, about the New Deal. There was a racist deal to pass it. People of color were not allowed to share in the benefits in the same way white folks were. Unions, for example, rarely accepted people of color. Democrats must enact policies that provide redress for these inequities.
Laissez-Faire Capitalism & Fascism
I remember learning about laissez-faire capitalism in school. It was the only type taught, although there are other socially and environmentally responsible forms of capitalism. Many wealthy people don’t want you to know about these others.
Anyway, laissez-faire capitalism is an unregulated form of capitalism that seeks to privatize most everything and have low taxes on the wealthy, so they place the burden on us to support them. It’s a parasitic relationship.
Laissez-faire capitalism is a non-intervention, extremist ideology that limits government in society and the market, allowing the “free market” to determine what businesses can and should do. It allows for the concentrated accumulation of capital and ruthless domination, like we see now. Most of the rich love it, because it allows a massive redistribution of wealth to them. However, there is no safety net for the rest of us, and we get the crumbs.
Here’s the wealth inequality video from January 2020. The inequality is even more extreme now.
Laissez-faire capitalism allowed monopolistic power to take hold like in the Gilded Age of robber barons and nearly destroyed democracy in the 1930s. Here were are again because the Republicans destroyed the checks and balances, and some Democrats helped. This has led to the U.S. becoming a fascist country, just like what happened to Europe and Nazi Germany.
While fascism takes different forms in different countries because it is coupled with that country’s nationalistic rhetoric, fascism — according to Friendly Fascism: The New Face of Power in America and other experts — boils down to:
Fascism = Government + Big Business (where government and big business are tightly coupled)
Another way to put this is documented in the book Fascism in Action, which is a study and analysis of fascism in Europe during WWII. It concluded that fascism was a political system that combined extreme nationalism and monopolistic power — a “dictatorship of big business.”
Fascism = extreme nationalism + “dictatorship of big business”
The wealthy complained about the taxes and supporting the poor. (There is a lot of racism behind their motives. The truth is that most of the poor on welfare are white folks.) So, unsuspecting voters actually voted for candidates and policies to destroy the balance of power leading to the concentrated capital by the wealthy and the destruction of democracy.
Capitalism has to be regulated and balanced with labor unions to prevent dictatorship and fascism. To fix our democracy, not only do we need Green New Deal social programs, but also we need the restoration of the balance of power by strengthening labor unions and policies to prevent corruption, fraud, and exploitation. This time, the Green New Deal has to help everyone, regardless of color.
Balancing power also means looking at the rest of government where the Republicans stole power. We have to countervail what the Republicans did. For example, we MUST reform the entire Judiciary Branch, including expanding the Supreme Court. Biden doesn’t want to do that, which is a huge problem and means we will lose our democracy. Folks, if we want democracy, we must MAKE him pack the court after the election.
The New Deal & Our Hybrid System: Capitalism Balanced with Social Programs
The New Deal balanced the excesses and destructive forces of capitalism by adding many social programs, federal agencies, and regulations, as well as strengthening labor to restore a balance of power.
Therefore, our economic system, like most of Europe is a hybrid economic system of capitalism and social programs (Medicare, Medicaid, public libraries, public schools, etc.). However, the rich have been destroying the social programs, labor unions, and regulations part of the equation, leaving us with the extremist ideology of laissez-faire capitalism.
The Republicans want to destroy ALL social programs and regulations.
The Republicans have been destroying or trying to destroy social programs, such as public education; Obamacare; SNAP; Social Security; Medicare; Medicaid, etc.; federal agencies, regulations, etc. All of this MUST be restored.
We must restore the balance of power, going back to a more equitable and healthy balance of a Green New Deal with taxes raised on the wealthy to a sufficient level, including a wealth tax. Study the fall of democracies, and you’ll see why this is necessary.
Balancing capitalism with social programs, federal agencies, and regulations is absolutely necessary to maintain democracy.
The Republicans will spout many lies. Don’t fall for them.
Saving Democracy – All Hands on Deck!
Here we are again now, like in the 1930s. The difference today is that we’ve never had an authoritarian in the White House and a totally corrupted Republican Party. They require additional efforts by the American people to overcome.
Voting will NOT be enough. All hands on deck for voting and then a massive movement.