We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Ultra-Rich 'Philanthrocapitalist' Class Undermining Global Democracy: Report

Click here to access article by Sarah Lazare from Common Dreams

Lazare reviews a recent study by Global Policy Forum which concludes that the increasing influence of the rich via charitable organizations is having a huge impact on government policies at all levels. 

It is widely known that the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer, but it is less well known that the rich have always used their money-power to get rich with the result that they have always had a disproportionate effect on public governing bodies. It's almost obscure knowledge that their system of capitalism with its enshrinement of private ownership of economic enterprise has accelerated the wealth of a few at the expense of the many. This is the reason behind what we see today all around us: a most dramatic phenomenon of extreme inequality and so many problems associated with that reality: wars, rampant crime, huge number of refugees fleeing from war ravaged areas, poverty, huge prison populations, ignorance, etc.

Some have speculated on the motives of the rich and their use of charitable foundations. They range all the way from guilt expiation, to trying to "do good", to tax write-offs, to imposing their capitalist values and methods on the rest of us, or some combination of these motives. What is so clear from the study is that this trend is undermining any pretenses about democratic governing processes. But then, it was never a reality anyhow. So I think this trend could be good if it awakens enough people to change the anti-social, anti-nature system of capitalism into an economic system that can sustain humans with a reasonable amount of dignity and equality and a natural environment that can sustain human life.