No comments neccessary– these clips reflect exactly what scares me:
CORNEL WEST–DEMOCRACY MATTERS IN OUR TIME: LOGOS SUMMER 2004
Free-market fundamentalism–just as dangerous as the religious fundamentalisms of our day—trivializes the concern for public interest. The overwhelming power and influence of plutocrats and oligarchs in the economy put fear and insecurity in the hearts of anxiety-ridden workers and render money-driven, poll-obsessed elected officials deferential to corporate goals of profit, often at the cost of the common good. This illicit marriage of corporate and political elites–so blatant and flagrant in our time–not only undermines the trust of informed citizens in those who rule over them. It also promotes the pervasive sleepwalking of the populace, who see that the false prophets are handsomely rewarded with money, status, and access to more power. This profit-driven vision is sucking the democratic life out of American society.
Democracy matters are frightening in our time precisely because the three dominant dogmas of free-market fundamentalism, aggressive militarism, and escalating authoritarianism are snuffing out the democratic impulses that are so vital for the deepening and spread of democracy in the world. In short, we are experiencing the sad American imperial devouring of American democracy. This historic devouring in our time constitutes an unprecedented gangsterization of America?an unbridled grasp at power, wealth, and status. And when the most powerful forces in a society?and an empire?promote a suffocation of democratic energies, the very future of genuine democracy is jeopardized.
Are there enough democratic energies here and abroad to fight for and win back our democracy given the undeniable power of the three dominant dogmas that fuel imperial America? Or will the American empire go the way of the Leviathans of the past–the Roman, Ottoman, Soviet, and British empires? Can any empire resist the temptation to become drunk with the wine of world power or become intoxicated with the hubris and greed of imperial possibilities? Has not every major empire pursued quixotic dreams of global domination–of shaping the world in its image and for its interest–that resulted in internal decay and doom? Can we committed democrats avert this world-historical pattern and possible fate?
This article is an excerpt from his book Democracy Matters from Penguin Press