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<div class="moz-signature"> On 01/26/2013 03:58 AM, Roland Perry
wrote:<br>
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<blockquote cite="mid:miMQK+RcHvARFAYf@internetpolicyagency.com"
type="cite">In message <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:5102AD28.9090901@ITforChange.net"><5102AD28.9090901@ITforChange.net></a>,
at 23:04:56 on Fri, 25 Jan 2013,
=?UTF-8?B?R3VydSDgpJfgpYHgpLDgpYE=?= <a
class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:Guru@ITforChange.net"><Guru@ITforChange.net></a>
writes <br>
<blockquote type="cite">you say 'different forms of democracy', is
plutocracy another form of democracy? <br>
</blockquote>
<br>
Only if everyone in the country in question is wealthy. So Monaco,
perhaps? <br>
</blockquote>
<br>
Ronald,<br>
then can you explain what you mean by 'different forms of democracy'
in which the lobbying power of money varies across countries?<br>
<br>
Also <br>
"The word plutocracy is almost always used as a pejorative to
describe or warn against an undesirable condition,<sup
id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutocracy#cite_note-2"><span>[</span>2<span>]</span></a></sup><sup
id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutocracy#cite_note-3"><span>[</span>3<span>]</span></a></sup>
and throughout history political thinkers such as <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill"
title="Winston Churchill">Winston Churchill</a>, 19th-century
French <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociologist"
title="Sociologist" class="mw-redirect">sociologist</a> and <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historian" title="Historian">historian</a>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville"
title="Alexis de Tocqueville">Alexis de Tocqueville</a> and
19th-century Spanish <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchist" title="Monarchist"
class="mw-redirect">monarchist</a> <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Donoso_Cort%C3%A9s"
title="Juan Donoso Cortés">Juan Donoso Cortés</a> have condemned
those they characterize as plutocrats for ignoring their <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_responsibility"
title="Social responsibility">social responsibilities</a> to the
poor, <u><b>using their power to serve their own purposes</b></u>
and thereby increasing poverty and nurturing <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_conflict" title="Class
conflict">class conflict</a>, and corrupting their societies with
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greed" title="Greed">greed</a>
and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonism"
title="Hedonism">hedonism</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-4"
class="reference"><a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutocracy#cite_note-4"><span>[</span>4<span>]</span></a></sup><sup
id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutocracy#cite_note-5"><span>[</span>5<span>]</span></a></sup>
(<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutocracy">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutocracy</a>)<br>
<br>
<b>This seems to be the direction that US seems to be moving
towards, with the vastly disproportionate influence of the monied
in policy making.</b> This phenomenon is also true for most other
countries including India, but with most large IT transnationals
being head quartered in the US and with US domestic law
unfortunately* the defacto global law, the need/scope for policy
lobbying/corruption is much higher in the US.<br>
<br>
regards,<br>
Guru<br>
* I would think it axiomatic that global democracy will require a
league of nations and nationalities and not any one having any
pre-eminent position, so it is disappointing (though not surprising)
that we get responses on the list about 'US eminent role/ US
exceptionalism' being good or inevitable. To quote that great
American, Abraham Lincoln "No man is good enough to govern another
man without that other man’s consent", something many Americans on
this list and other nationals favoring US eminence in IG, may want
to ponder about. <br>
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