professor Noam Chomsky gave a talk in
bonn Germany
about the state of politics in the
United States an alternate got a hold of
the transcript
and in the speech he seeks to answer the
question
is the United States a democracy and
basically the answer he gives
is no and you really makes a strong case
using
polls and data but I went into it
further
and when you really come by or all the
polls
I really think it's close the US is
definitely
not a democracy now I understand it's a
strong claim
let me go ahead and break it down for
you and you can determine whether or not
you agree with that assessment
so first of all ninety-two percent of
Americans
according to a Gallup poll see that job
creation
is extremely slash very important
and it should be the number one priority
of elected officials
but instead it what did we get we got
the support mister
which means Congress is focused on
deficit-reduction
not job creation deficit reduction is
the opposite of job creation
so ask yourself the question who wants
deficit reduced
according to the polls its the rich
and the corporation's now isn't it weird
that the politicians are
carrying out the bidding above what the
rich
in the corporations want and they are
ignoring
ninety-two percent of the American
people
can they make it any more clear
where their loyalties lie let's continue
eighty percent of Americans say raise
the minimum wage
eighty percent and then when you break
it down by demographic group it's even
stronger
ninety-two percent of Democrats same
race it
sixty-two percent are Republicans say
raise it
hasn't been done yet no who doesn't want
it done
yet again the original corporations
seventy-seven percent of Americans
wanna public option for health care we
didn't get that
why because the rich didn't want it
the health insurance companies who have
a tremendous amount of money and use
lobbying arms
they didn't want it so we didn't get it
I we find it funny when
conservatives say oh look a a slight
majority the American people are against
Obamacare
right because they want are more aware
or
option they want the public option
that's more progressive furthermore
sixty-one percent of Americans
say you raise taxes on the rich and
corporations
now did we get that
certainly not any serious degree so
again why did we not get well the
original corporations
are paying the politicians and
for them to run their campaigns and the
politicians get elected they do the
bidding of the rich
and ignore sixty-one percent of the
American people but this is
I haven't even given you but some of the
strongest evidence yet
background checks I mean you're a poll
on background checks
ninety-one percent of the American
people directly after Sandy Hook
supported universal background checks
for gun purchases
not only do we not get that we may get a
watered down version of that bill
now to be fair support has dropped to
seventy one percent
since then in some polls on the polls at
still higher but that is still in
all well-meaning majority anybody who
knows anything about politics in the US
know that 71 percent
is a mandate but we didn't get that
a majority of the american people
supported a ban on high-capacity
magazines
and a ban on assault weapons we get that
we got no love these policy goals
yet again the reason this happened is
because it doesn't matter what we think
it doesn't matter what the american
people want in this case
the gun manufacturers fun in the NRA
and then the NRA fund the politicians so
the politicians were doing the bidding
of the gun manufacturers
who don't want any gun legislation
passed because even the tiniest Mossman
no reforms
what got into their profits again
but more information fifty-eight percent
of the American people want no social
security cuts
what's happening right now Democrats and
Republicans are negotiating
social security cuts fifty-eight percent
want no medicare cuts
same thing Republicans and Democrats
party Goshen medicare cuts
61 percent want no cuts to education
funding
and what's Washington doing they are
cutting education
right now with the sequester I just read
article in a talking about how head
Start is being cut tremendously
so what is the United States effin all
these different areas
all these different issues all welding
majority say we want this
and they are screaming it we are
screaming it the entire american
population
but they don't know what the government
doesn't do it what are we what does that
make us
or not a democracy we're not a
representative democracy
we're not a constitutional republic what
we are is a kleptocracy
to corrupt form a government that exists
to try to enrich
a small group of people were quite talk
or see
and we're a plutocracy plutocracy is
government I love by and for the rich
I don't wish that were the case but then
again these poll numbers
versus the reality is quite overwhelming
evidence
