An Illustrated Novel
ALIBRAM Select Library
Available now at an unbeatable low price: FREE!
This is not a "how to" when it comes to democracy.
Rather it uses history to explore two key themes that challenge democracy.
First (for conservatives?):
Democracy cannot function as a populist majoritarian juggernaut. The rights of minorities (including the opulent) must be protected if democracy is not to cannibalize itself. Thus democracy must be liberal (where the people submit themselves to the rule of law.)
Second (for radicals?):
Excessive wealth inequality (unaccountable concentrations of wealth) is the deadly enemy of democracy (and constitutional democracy). And democracy (even liberal constitutional democracy) is likely to be ultimately fatal to excessive wealth inequality.
Liberal democracy is a framework by which humanity may be able to preserve itself from its own savagery. The current, and historically the most dangerous, stumbling block is the concentration of unaccountable wealth in too few irresponsible hands.
TABLE of CONTENTS
TRIGGER WARNINGS!
I. 1789: A PIVOTAL YEAR
............THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
............THE US CONSTITUTION
............THE BEST OF TIMES. THE WORST OF TIMES*
II. THE WORD: DEMOCRACY
............DEMOCRACY: A NEVER-ENDING STRUGGLE
............DEMOCRACY: THE WORD*
III. TWO KNOWN TYPES OF POLITICAL DEMOCRACY
............DIRECT DEMOCRACY (Greek)
............REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY (Roman)
............THE (DIS)ENCHANTMENTS OF DEMOCRACY*
IV. MODERN IDEAS ABOUT POLITICAL DEMOCRACY
............“MIDDLE CLASSES” AND “THE RULE OF LAW”
............THE “MODERN” CHALLENGES TO” ABSOLUTISM”
............CONSTITUTIONAL BILLS OF RIGHTS:
............THE RITES OF POWER*
V. A BRIEF REVIEW
............CHRONOLOGY
............THE DREAMS THAT MAKE US*
VI. THE ROOTS OF INEQUALITY
............ECONOMIC DEMOCRACY
............THE ORIGINS OF INEQUALITY
............BEFORE ORGANIZED INEQUALITY*
VII. ANCIENT AND EARLY MODERN IDEAS OF DEMOCRACY
............THE MIDDLE AGES IN EUROPE
............THE ENGLISH CIVIL WARS
............DEMOCRACY: UNCERTAIN OR UNFINISHED?*
VIII. DEMOCRACY AS A MODERN CHALLENGE
............THE CONSERVATIVE REACTIONS
............THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
............THE EMERGENCE OF CAPITALISM
............THE 1871 THE PARIS COMMUNE REVISITED
............RIGHTS AND REBELLION*
IX. PROBLEMS AND ISSUES OF DEMOCRACY
............SOVEREIGNTY
............“PERSONHOOD” AND “DEPENDENCE”
............SYSTEMIC DEPENDENCE
............INDUSTRIALIZATION AND HUMAN DEPENDENCE
............ILLUSIONS OF (IN)DEPENDENCE*
X. THE PROGRESSIVE REACTION (SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC COMPROMISE)
............MAJOR VIOLENT STRIKES AND MASSACRES IN THE US
............THE FASCIST REACTION
............THE “WELFARE STATE” AND POST COLONIALISM
............THE CONTAMINATED PROGRESSIVE REACTION*
XI. CONTEMPORARY DILEMMAS
............THE MODERN CORPORATION
............CONCENTRATED WEALTH AND DEMOCRACY
............CONTEMPORARY DILEMMAS IN DEMOCRACY*
XII. THE WAY FORWARD
............OUR SURVIVAL DEPENDS ON COMPLEXITY
............INTERDEPENDENCE IS INESCAPABLE
............THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES?
............AFTER AND FORWARD
............THE FUTURE IS OURS TO CREATE*
THE PEOPLE THANG
CLOSING COMMENTS
A NOTE ON THE TEXT
FINAL REVIEW
ALSO:
And:
The Universe Doesn't Owe Me Sleep
Streamly Gredible
was that way
​
