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I have read about George Soros before. From very early on in his career he was manipulating currency markets and using money and political connections to undermine governments.
Among the accusations levelled at him are the manipulation of the Ruble and wheat futures in the Soviet Union. Mikhail Gorbachev was convinced by the likes of Soros to let the Ruble float agains the dollar. George Soros moved in caused a massive devaluation of the Ruble coupled with a collapse in the price of wheat. As natural gas and oil prices sunk in the late 1980s the Soviet Economy sank deeper and deeper into trouble, and Geroge Soros made more and more money because he was manipulating currencies. The end result was the collapse of the Soviet Union.
He proceded to cause the collapse of several "communist" currencies in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. All those communist governments collpased shortly thereafter.
He tried to do the same thing in China. However, the Communist Party of China had already heard of what he was doing in Russia, so they moved in and locked the Ren Min Bi against the US dollar. Soros had bet that the Ren Min Bi would collapse like the Ruble did, and instead it stayed pegged to the dollar. Reputedly George Soros lost over $1 billion in China. Ever since China has refused to let its currency fully float against other currencies. They are smart enough to know what George Soros and the likes of him are capable of doing.
George Soros is the ultimate opportunist. When George W. Bush ran for election the first time, he gave him millions. Then 4 years later he gave millions to John Kerry, claiming that George W. Bush was bad for the economy. He also gave $14 million to the Obama campaign.
He is not the only one to do this. Warren Buffet gave millions to George W. Bush and Arnold Schwarzennegger, then he turned around and gave million to Obama.
Politicly, these guys play on the winning team. It is why they make billions. They know ahead of time who is going to win, and they buy loyalty, influence and government contracts with all those billions they make.
It stops the masses from going into revolution. If people realized that they have no political power, then they would question why the elite is ruling them, and social discontent would set in. From its early beginnings in the 19th century modern democracy was conceived as a cure against revolution.
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) was an English philosopher who formulated some of the early theories of modern government. He said that "the French Revolution was necessary for Europeans so that they would know that they should never have another one again". In England the common people (wealthy men, but not women or the poor) were given the vote in response to the ever increasing threat of a revolution like the one France had. Later on that same idea, together with Thomas Jeffersons views on government, influenced the new United States of America to give the franchise (power of vote) to "elegible" men. Initially only wealthy landowners could vote, but as the populace grew more and more discontent, it became necessary to give them the ability to vote.
Of course, voting gives an individual a very tiny amount of political power. The theory is that collectively the masses can change the political system by casting their individual votes. If somehow the way people vote can be manipulated, then the elite secures itself in power. That is why elections come with massive spending on propaganda, character assassination, mud slinging, etc. Wealthy individuals will sway elections in their favor with the power of their money.
In real life once a government is elected, accountability evaporates and those elected do whatever they want. Modern democracy is a system in which individuals vote to chose their dictators. The political parties will fight and pretend to represent the interests of voters, but in reality they are representing the interests of the wealthy elite. As long as the populace believes that they are free and they have control over their government, then they will never go into revolution and the status quo will remain.
> did you know that the aboriginal people of australia weren't given the vote until 1975
I knew this. In the two Congos the pigmy people are kept as slaves in the homes of wealthier landowners and they are not allowed to vote.
Democracy is a work in progress. In ancient Greece only the wealthy male aristocracy was allowed to vote. They excluded 90% of the population from voting. Then England created parliament and allowed MPs to be elected. Again, 90% of the population was excluded from voting until the French revolution forced the aristocracy to give up some of its power. In the Americas the United States and other independent countries gave people the right to vote and slowly over the next 200 years there a process of evolution. First, working men were allowed to vote, then men over 18. Then women and people of races other than Caucasian. 100 years ago most countries did not allow women to vote, thus excluding 50% of the population. It is a work in progress for sure.
Perhaps my view of democracy is rather dark, but the alternative is worse. Absolutist governments and dictatorships are definitely not the way to go.
I think the next step for democracies is participatory democracy where people can participate in everyday decisions. Technology should make this easier some day. The technology is already there, but it is still too expensive. Fingerprint and iris scanners are still too expensive. However, if fingerprint scanners become cheap, say $20-50 each, then every home could have one and a registered voter could vote from home. That could open the door to a new form of democracy where people can vote every day through their computers. A fingerprint scanner could make it impossible for somebody to vote twice.
Well, I doubt governments would like that. The ruling elite having to consult with the populace every day would make it very difficult for them to shove unpopular policies down everybody's throat. Imagine the budget being voted upon by the public. I doubt the wealthy contractors that make billions in the current system would like that.
件名: Re: Perhaps my view of democracy is rather dark...
Übergeek 바둑이: No, just 'naked'.. Like the fact that until gone past the first K' AD.. Women didn't have souls.. The church ruled it so!!
History is full of those who try and hold unto power and 'tradition'.. Thankfully such times are growing hard. Freedom of information acts and the like make it much harder for hiding the dust under the carpet.
Being Gay was illegal here until about the 50's, sexual discrimination was rampant, etc, etc... The last 100 years have seen much central power diluted, and the power of voice gain more.
... Just wish the baby kissing politician would die off.. don't they think that line has been used up!!