Librarius
26 Dec 2015
News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]
In Conversation with Noam Chomsky - A British Academy event
youtube.com/watch?v=1OGIJE8AzqM
The real problem is what to do about the effect that we don't live in political democracies; that's the real problem. So take the United States, which I know better and has been studied more intensively.
You can read an academic political science, not on the left. About 70% of the population, lowest 70% on the income scale, is entirely disenfranchised, meaning their opinions have zero impact on policy, even their own representatives, they are simply ignored - one of the reasons why they do not vote. I mean they may not read the scientific journals but they know it otherwise. As you move up the income scale you can start getting up a little more influence as measured by the relation between attitudes and policy. When you get to the very top, which is a fraction of one percent - policy is made. What kind of a system is that? I mean, does it matter if you pick one or another representative; sometimes it does at kind of way out at the margin, but the real problem is the nature of the system. I think England is not that much different.
People like their cheap trinkets too much.
In Conversation with Noam Chomsky - A British Academy event
youtube.com/watch?v=1OGIJE8AzqM
The real problem is what to do about the effect that we don't live in political democracies; that's the real problem. So take the United States, which I know better and has been studied more intensively.
You can read an academic political science, not on the left. About 70% of the population, lowest 70% on the income scale, is entirely disenfranchised, meaning their opinions have zero impact on policy, even their own representatives, they are simply ignored - one of the reasons why they do not vote. I mean they may not read the scientific journals but they know it otherwise. As you move up the income scale you can start getting up a little more influence as measured by the relation between attitudes and policy. When you get to the very top, which is a fraction of one percent - policy is made. What kind of a system is that? I mean, does it matter if you pick one or another representative; sometimes it does at kind of way out at the margin, but the real problem is the nature of the system. I think England is not that much different.