Re Heading Lester Thurow? Are you kidding?It was the paragraph - not the messenger - that I supported. That capitalism is not incompatable with slavery, while democracy is incompatable with slavery - is the point. (and before someone mentions Athens and slaves - the slaves couldn't vote)
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: : Still, this strikes me as a bit mechanical in its purism.
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: : The question, as you have posed in this post is how to get from here to there. I would suggest that efforts made in the name of process - specifically Radical or Direct Democracy - will be more fruitful than an immediate call for socialism.
: Well, if you believe in electoral / parliamentary 'democracy,' all the power to you. Will you be pulling the 'radical democracy' lever for Gore, Bush, or Buchanan this time around?
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Of course not and you know it. That's the point! I'll bet the power-elite would cozy up to a "socialist" before they would a "radical democrat". (Look at the so-called "socialist" ally of Pat Buchanon - Nora Fillani (sp?)). Currently national elections are merely symbolic excercises to create an illusion of democracy. The real business of social and political life (as we all know) occur elsewhere, usually in back chambers.
I feel that socialim MUST evolve from the Ground Up. It requires space and a fertile field in which to grow. That field is called Democracy.
In a True democracy, I believe that socialism would ripen like an apple.
: Direct democracy after proerty relations have changed, Bill...
I'd rather not wait...besides, property relations will change as a result of direct, radical democracy.
