Thank you for a great response, including making me laugh because you have a good sense of humor, Benjamin. Thank you.
I am a structural philosopher, and one of the points I dislike about folks' thoughts is that they can sometimes hang in the air, are not grounded in evidence. Philosophy can mean ‘anything goes’, but structure means it has to be built on some actual grounds.
Your question about being anti-American is one such question. You show me a concept, and you want to discuss that concept. Yet the concept hangs in the air because it negates real people as the essence and turns a collective aspect into the essence instead. Said in a quick and dirty manner: the bottom fell out with that concept.
Let me regain your trust by mentioning once more that I am a fan of yours. You have an excellent brain, you control language in a way that makes me jealous (but I benefit from it because your words are easy to comprehend), and your heart is in the right place.
The deeper question is: What society do we want to be, and what do we have in place that makes us who we are.
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Because I am structural philosopher, I am going to use the pyramidal structure to explain better what I see happening.
The Egyptian pyramid has a pointy top, and the person taking in that top position does so by himself.
The Mexican pyramid has a platform in top, flat or truncated, and this provides an area for discussion, for diversity, for decision-making by multiple group interactions.
When I view the United States, then I see a nation that often resembles the Mexican pyramid, yet on close examination all political positions are voted on via the Egyptian model. It is in the collectiveness that we see the Mexican (and better) outcome, yet the closer look shows us the Egyptian (and worse) outcomes. It is the policeman getting away with assault that points to the Egyptian pyramid, a top excluded away from the standards, elitist in essence.
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San Francisco is often a good example to look at the situation on the ground because all Supervisor seats are taken in by registered Democrats no less. The offense is made clear by their all being registered as Democrats; they are not even hiding it because it will help each of them in their political career as Democrats and there are no downsides for them. The extreme situation helps to clarify things.
One in six San Franciscans voted for George W. Bush in 2004, and yet we do not have the logical two Republican Supervisors on the Board. The voting system does not allow it, even when the Republicans are large enough in number for perhaps even two seats.
When the Green Party started to make inroads in the mid 1990s, San Francisco changed its at-large voting system (which is a mediocre democratic system) into a district voting system (which is a mediocre democratic system of a different kind).
Two things happened:
1/ The 5 females and the 6 males on the Board became 1 female and 10 males on the Board overnight. The Egyptian pyramid does benefit males more than females. The single winner tends to be male (USA sits in 76th position on the list of females in political seats). We can declare that a cultural aspect, a deeply engrained reality still true.
2/ After attracting Democrats (both voters and party members) at first, the Green Party petered out with the changed voting system. Political diversity got undermined. The flatter pyramid got jacked-up to now having that single pointy top for each seat.
The Democratic Machine fixed up the gender issue over the years because San Franciscans do not like all-male boards and would start to question the system. The solution? The Machine pushing forward female candidates. There are now 4 females and 7 males on the Board.
Green Party, never heard of again.
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Am I anti-American?
Absolutely not. I love this nation, and I am happy to be here.
But I am not a fool. I recognize when the wool is pulled over folks' eyes, and I am terribly annoyed when folks defend the voting system as if their favorite sports club is attacked. I like people with a functioning brain, even when it makes them (and myself) uncomfortable.
When there is Red and Blue only, then folks do not recognize that Green, Yellow or Orange can be the most important color in an image. Folks are made colorblind because the additional color that would show the full truth and nothing but the truth is verboten in this system.
Canadians are much luckier.
I investigated all nations in the Americas and most nations have a president in place and as such they have their elites take more bacon home than the rest of their societies. Canada has the queen, yet in effect that establishes an empty political position. American wealth distribution is best in Canada.
I hope you see that Canada has that Mexican pyramid just like the USA, but that the push down is not as severe as the USA. The far simpler (less complicated) political structure of Canada benefits Canadians. More of the natural colors can rise up. The top is more truncated.
And then, when looking at the actual wording of the United States, then we see that the powers that be basically screwed Statelings with not giving them what the Founding Fathers wrote down in the US Constitution.
Instead of concentrating powers to make just the Federation as strong as possible, so it would withstand foreign enemies and overcome extreme internal conflicts (and then have full political freedom everywhere else), we see that for every governmental level the powers are concentrated in a manner that optimizes power and provides the idea that the people are in control, but does not put the people in the driver’s seat except for a handful of collective decisions. The Egyptian pyramid is enforced, even where that was not part of the plan.
That is what makes me angry, Benjamin. The lying. The speaking from two sides of the mouth.
By seeing Red and Blue only, we are not given the option to recognize the full truth. As pointed out with the poverty rate in the USA, by keeping this rate at an extreme low level, few people (voters) are acknowledged as living in poverty. It matters if 15% of the population hears the acknowledgment that they live in poverty, or if 25% hears that acknowledgment, or if 35% hears that acknowledgment. The smaller the perceived group, the greater the chance folks will blame themselves. The closer to 35% hearing that acknowledgment, the greater the chance society will end up organizing itself better by abolishing deeply entrenched poverty.
Self-image is the name of the game. And the fewer folks believe they live in poverty, the more the elite can take home. Those currently poor, but above the official poverty line will think that they are not off all that badly. It is not about the facts, however. It is about beliefs. Our political society should be about the facts and yet we are lying to ourselves.
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So, now you know. I focus on the facts. I look at structures in place. I listen to what folks are saying, and I speak up myself when words and understanding do not coincide with what is found on the ground.
Do not worry that I am having this conversation with you. We are both learning from this, and what I hope I am bringing is your investigating the structures of your mind. They are pretty good already, but you sometimes rise up above the ground with talking about concepts.
With concepts, it is very easy to mistake wagging the tail from wagging the dog because in both cases the data is the same and the ground not solid.
The focus is not: democracy or not. The focus is the quality of the democracy and whether it is a good fit for a society or not. You know my position about the USA. The political system does not deliver for society, yet it does deliver in many ways (but more so for the elite).
With the fantastic music outcomes, we can be happy. Yet the reason for the fantastic music is not always all that happy. Hiphop shows us how that not always happy translates into still fantastic music but of a focused quality often pointing at society, at the roles people play, and declaring what is wrong and upsetting. Not too many rappers point to the lousy voting system that systematically discriminates minorities (up to 49.9% of the voters get nothing). But they are showing what is wrong in this society. There is a top-heavy aspect to the pyramid, and the weight of that top-heavy aspect is carried by those on the ground.
Keep on musing, Benjamin. You have important things to say; I am learning from you. My hope is that your feet get attached to the ground even more firmly and that this helps structure your thoughts to the ever more brilliant level you already occupy.
