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Author Topic: Noam Chomsky's America
CMOT Dibbler
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posted 17 April 2008 08:02 AM      Profile for CMOT Dibbler     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Leftist activists like Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn have spoken at great length about an America that is completely Democratic, in which corporations do not dominate electoral politics or the economy and the American armed forces do not police the world. My question is has the United States ever functioned like that? Did American democracy have a golden age, where it actually did benefit the people, or has it always been unbearably corrupt?

[ 17 April 2008: Message edited by: CMOT Dibbler ]
From: Just outside Fernie, British Columbia | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged
N.Beltov
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posted 17 April 2008 08:48 AM      Profile for N.Beltov   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Sure. 1491 was probably fairly uncorrupt. Then Columbus arrived. Read Howard Zinn in A People's History of the United States: 1492 - Present for more information.
From: Vancouver Island | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged
CMOT Dibbler
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posted 17 April 2008 09:59 AM      Profile for CMOT Dibbler     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by N.Beltov:
Sure. 1491 was probably fairly uncorrupt. Then Columbus arrived. Read Howard Zinn in A People's History of the United States: 1492 - Present for more information.

Do you think it's possible to create the kind of United States people like Chomsky and Zinn dream about? Or is it an impossible utopian project? After all, even in the European states. The North American left idolizes (Finland, Sweden, Norway, etc.). There is still a certain amount of corruption and racism.

From: Just outside Fernie, British Columbia | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged
RosaL
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posted 17 April 2008 10:01 AM      Profile for RosaL     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by CMOT Dibbler:

Do you think it's possible to create the kind of United States people like Chomsky and Zinn dream about? Or is it an impossible utopian project? After all, even in the European states. The North American left idolizes (Finland, Sweden, Norway, etc.). There is still a certain amount of corruption and racism.

I would be surprised if either Chomsky or Zinn idolized Finland, Sweden, Norway, or Denmark!

From: the underclass | Registered: Mar 2007  |  IP: Logged
N.Beltov
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posted 17 April 2008 10:56 AM      Profile for N.Beltov   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
By the way, CMOT, corrupt compared to what other country?

I mean, we can all imagine perfect little utopias and nowhere lands. But that won't get us a flea hop closer to anything, will it?

So get off the couch, slacker!

[Sorry. I couldn't resist the temptation of using your self-description.]

From: Vancouver Island | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged
CMOT Dibbler
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posted 17 April 2008 11:06 AM      Profile for CMOT Dibbler     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
By the way, CMOT, corrupt compared to what other country?

Ummm...Iceland?

From: Just outside Fernie, British Columbia | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged
N.Beltov
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posted 17 April 2008 11:20 AM      Profile for N.Beltov   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
They've got their problems as well. The women of Iceland went on strike, for the day I think, as a form of protest against their second class status a number of years ago.

They probably complained that the men were a bunch of slackers! Are you hearing me, CMOT? Put that bong down and give me 20, right now! Ten-hut!

From: Vancouver Island | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged
RosaL
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posted 17 April 2008 11:36 AM      Profile for RosaL     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by N.Beltov:
They've got their problems as well. The women of Iceland went on strike, for the day I think, as a form of protest against their second class status a number of years ago.

And, of course, they're oppressed by capitalism

From: the underclass | Registered: Mar 2007  |  IP: Logged
CMOT Dibbler
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posted 17 April 2008 04:34 PM      Profile for CMOT Dibbler     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I think the word I'm looking for is anti democratic rather than corrupt. Was there ever a time in the past 200 years when the American government wasn't dominated by corporate interests and the American people participated fully in their democracy?
From: Just outside Fernie, British Columbia | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged

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