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Contents A Return to Democracy 3 Reviving Jefferson's Dream 3 Contents 5 Introduction 8 I. America's Democracy Is Eroding 12 Loss of democratic participation 18 The rise of the new corporate feudal lords 18 The three threats 20 II. What Is Democracy, and What Difference Does It Make? 22 How Democracy is defined 26 The characteristics of a healthy democracy 32 The Goddess of Democracy 34 Beware: tight control can look very good, at first... 35 Is this what the Founders fought for? 35 III. How ancient tribal people influenced the America's Founders 37 Jefferson encounters ancient wisdom 37 The Native American influence on American democracy 41 The indigenous natives of England: the ancient writings of Tacitus 44 The "true" historian of England: Paul de Rapin Thoyras 47 The truth about the Tea Party 55 IV. When Democracy Failed 71 V. Myths about Democracy in America 80 Myth: "Even our Founders all knew democracies eventually self-destruct" 80 Myth: "America was really created by rich white men to protect their wealth" 81 Myth: "The Founders wrote slavery into the Constitution" 92 Myth: "A woman's place is in the home, and the Founders knew it" 103 Myth: "The Republican Party has always been the party of big business and cheap labor" 105 Myth: "The Founders Thought the Constitution was Perfect and Should Never Change" 107 Myth: "Government is an evil entity that's against the people" 110 Myth: "The Founders and Framers were impractical, idealistic Enlightenment-era dreamers" 112 Myth: "The Constitution offers no right to privacy." 113 Myth: "Jefferson said it's wrong for the rich to pay more in taxes" 115 Myth: "Working women are responsible for the loss of good-paying jobs" 120 Myth: "Liberals wrote child labor laws to create a shortage and drive up wages." 124 Myth: "Left to themselves, people would drain the treasury" 126 Myth: "Liberal democratic policies are socialism" 127 Myth: "Free markets are nature's way of making the winner fit and strong (it's Darwin)" 129 Myth: "Taxes are an unfair burden, a waste of money" 134 Myth: "Social programs are the liberals' way of buying votes" 137 Myth: "Unlimited growth and concentration of power is nature's way, and it's good for us" 139 Myth: "Media conglomerates are just nature taking its course" 140 Myth: "The media have a liberal bias" 141 Myth: "There's too much regulation: Get government off the backs of big companies" 143 Myth: "NAFTA/GATT/WTO 'free trade' is good for all nations" 146 Myth: "Unions harm economies by driving up wage expenses" 148 It's time to set aside the myths 149 VI. What Became of Real American Conservatives? 151 The modern conservative movement: Russell Kirk 151 The shift to pseudo-conservative values 154 Awakening to the antidemocratic conservative damage 155 VII. Democracy, Not Dominance, Is the Way of Nature 159 VIII. Warlords, Theocrats, and Aristocrats Rise Again 174 Warlord Presidents use "National Security" to grab power 175 Theocrats attack democracy 183 The New Aristocracy: Corporatism and monopolies 194 IX. Liberal Democracy: Its History and Why It Works 203 The oldest democratic cultures 203 Roots in Rome and Greece 208 X. The State of Democracy in the World Today 225 Democracy spreads across the world in a single century 1920-2000 225 The state of democracy in the world today 230 Democracy is inevitable 232 XI. A Vision for the Future of America and the World - "What Would Jefferson Do?" 240 Register and vote 241 Return war powers to Congress and end non-wars 241 Repeal the PATRIOT Act and other anti-liberty laws 245 Free high-quality public education for all - through college 245 Require that any benefits Congress gives itself, it gives to all citizens 248 Provide healthcare for all 248 Require a living wage 250 Support organized labor or organize your workplace 252 Use tariffs and trade policy to balance labor's playing field 252 Strengthen the social safety net 254 Bring back the middle class by restoring the tax laws that created it 258 Keep Social Security out of corporate hands 259 Institute universal conscription 260 Clean environment and healthy public lands 263 Strengthen the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and break up monopolies 264 Bust up the media conglomerates and restore a robust free press 265 Make the "revolving door" between industry and regulatory agencies illegal 267 Use tax incentives and grants to jump-start alternative energy 267 Human rights are for humans, not for "aggregated capital" 268 Keep church and state separate 269 Make the US more democratic in its elections 270 Abolish the Electoral College 273 Get corporations out of the voting process 273 Make the UN more democratic 274 Take action 275 XII. We Can Again Initiate a Return to a More Humane Government - and Revive Jefferson's Dream 276 Afterword by robert wolff 283 Acknowledgements and Author's Comment 289
Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Democracy, Democracy United States