- 24 Mar 2015 18:10
#14539894
Wait a second, I said nothing about scientific development being direct democratic. Scientific institutions should most definitely be merit based. Reality is NOT a democracy. Direct democracy would have elected and appoint parts of government in the same way that representative governments have appointed parts of government. Science shall be and always be within the realm of the scientific community, and they must be at least taken into consideration when policy is made.
Incidentally, it's usually not democratic revolutionaries who seem to deny scientific fact, but instead anti-democratic reactionaries. American conservatives and propertarians seem to be hell-bent on establishing an even more oligarchic republic and precisely fear too much democracy. Not to mention that I don't advocate for just simply installing a direct democratic government out of the sky. That is not even possible without building a movement, and rationalism definitely would play a large part in a movement dedicated to true political reform or revolution.
Also, the UKIP and BNP are not majority popular and neither are their opinions. They happen to mobilize an sizable minority of the population to support their cause in elections. In fact, the UK's population tends to have MUCH less support for privatizing the NHS than you think, and the only reason why the UKIP even has political power is that it exploits nationalism to gain supporters. It's a protest party that is in the vast minority, and the party doesn't even represent some of its constituents well. The BNP actually supports the NHS, so you dropped the ball there. As for the center-right and their privatization, I think that shows more the LACK of democracy in the representative system more than anything else. The majority actually want to keep it public. So again, your point fails.
The populist nature of right-wing movements is not from a democratic element, but rather from the inert conservatism of portions of the population mobilized by elites. comprised of a middle-class of a sort, or even both. I mean, Carlists and Jacobites were actually mass movements even though their ideology being highly elitist and reactionary. This is especially true for the UKIP, who often are consisted of propertarians who want to replace public, democratic power with the direct private power of a society ruled even more by capitalists with the state simply supporting them through protecting their property and creating the order needed to improve THEIR economic lot.
Republicans, meanwhile, are actually the minority in the United States. Now, the anti-science thought seems to be common, but that is simply due to the ignorance bestowed upon the common man by media such as Fox News and laughable figures on the internet. In fact, it is the elites who are in favor of ignorance, and the Republicans, whilst a minority, gain a majority through gerrymandering a form of government that emphasizes small states and rural areas over populated urban areas. And, this doesn't even mention how the role of money in politics has expanded since Citizens United. Then, include the inherently undemocratic tendencies of capitalism, and you end up with a government and economic system that doesn't even represent the people at all. And, I didn't even get started on the lack of involvement of the people in most elections beyond the Presidency and especially on local governments, in a federal system.
It isn't the people that perpetuate ignorance, but rather the elites who do so, whether it be the nobility and church in the time of feudalism or the bourgeois corporations and the remnants of the church in the age of capitalism. Of course, there are progressive members of a ruling class, but they will be in the minority of the ruling class and thus only rule in circumstances of instability. If anything, the increasingly unscientific rule of our republics precisely means that the ruling class has abandoned science and the only solution is to oust them from power. Of course, we can replace with technocratic elites and just simply create a new system of exploitation, but we can see from the USSR that this clearly leads no where and to eventually governments that rule with little basis in reality.
Additionally, One Degree is being quite ignorant by assuming that supporting military research makes you a right-winger. And, I think the constitution should have a bill of rights that extends it's protection to minorities such as homosexuals.
Incidentally, it's usually not democratic revolutionaries who seem to deny scientific fact, but instead anti-democratic reactionaries. American conservatives and propertarians seem to be hell-bent on establishing an even more oligarchic republic and precisely fear too much democracy. Not to mention that I don't advocate for just simply installing a direct democratic government out of the sky. That is not even possible without building a movement, and rationalism definitely would play a large part in a movement dedicated to true political reform or revolution.
Also, the UKIP and BNP are not majority popular and neither are their opinions. They happen to mobilize an sizable minority of the population to support their cause in elections. In fact, the UK's population tends to have MUCH less support for privatizing the NHS than you think, and the only reason why the UKIP even has political power is that it exploits nationalism to gain supporters. It's a protest party that is in the vast minority, and the party doesn't even represent some of its constituents well. The BNP actually supports the NHS, so you dropped the ball there. As for the center-right and their privatization, I think that shows more the LACK of democracy in the representative system more than anything else. The majority actually want to keep it public. So again, your point fails.
The populist nature of right-wing movements is not from a democratic element, but rather from the inert conservatism of portions of the population mobilized by elites. comprised of a middle-class of a sort, or even both. I mean, Carlists and Jacobites were actually mass movements even though their ideology being highly elitist and reactionary. This is especially true for the UKIP, who often are consisted of propertarians who want to replace public, democratic power with the direct private power of a society ruled even more by capitalists with the state simply supporting them through protecting their property and creating the order needed to improve THEIR economic lot.
Republicans, meanwhile, are actually the minority in the United States. Now, the anti-science thought seems to be common, but that is simply due to the ignorance bestowed upon the common man by media such as Fox News and laughable figures on the internet. In fact, it is the elites who are in favor of ignorance, and the Republicans, whilst a minority, gain a majority through gerrymandering a form of government that emphasizes small states and rural areas over populated urban areas. And, this doesn't even mention how the role of money in politics has expanded since Citizens United. Then, include the inherently undemocratic tendencies of capitalism, and you end up with a government and economic system that doesn't even represent the people at all. And, I didn't even get started on the lack of involvement of the people in most elections beyond the Presidency and especially on local governments, in a federal system.
It isn't the people that perpetuate ignorance, but rather the elites who do so, whether it be the nobility and church in the time of feudalism or the bourgeois corporations and the remnants of the church in the age of capitalism. Of course, there are progressive members of a ruling class, but they will be in the minority of the ruling class and thus only rule in circumstances of instability. If anything, the increasingly unscientific rule of our republics precisely means that the ruling class has abandoned science and the only solution is to oust them from power. Of course, we can replace with technocratic elites and just simply create a new system of exploitation, but we can see from the USSR that this clearly leads no where and to eventually governments that rule with little basis in reality.
Additionally, One Degree is being quite ignorant by assuming that supporting military research makes you a right-winger. And, I think the constitution should have a bill of rights that extends it's protection to minorities such as homosexuals.