When you just don't get it...

I get to sample news highlights in an RSS feed I setup with my Gmail account. Many times there are interesting articles from Discovery News regarding nano-technology or other advances. Or, I receive the titles of recent updates from Metroblogging Toronto. At times I also check the Reuters "Oddly Enough" news articles out. They cover strange happenings, weird arrests, etc. One offs, stories from the fringe, that sort of thing.

One of today's articles was sort of different. It was titled, "Oddly Enough: Libya's Gaddafi lectures U.S. on democracy".

Why I decided to write about this is because one part of his speech was true. I do not have enough information to say if his Jamahiriyah system of government (people's congresses) is a military dictatorship or not. I can't say that he isn't just full of shit completely. I do find truth in the 2nd part of his statement here:

"He touted Libya's political system as superior to "farcical" and "fake" parliamentary and representative democracies in the West."

Now, no system allows the public to vote on every issue. Politics and reality aside this is simply because jobs would never be completed if every part of every decision had to be given to the public to review and be voted on. At some point someone makes the choice at least to narrow the available options so that the public can pick 1 of 3 or 4 etc. Although no system is perfect there are many examples of the difference between US and Canadian ideals and practices. Many times the influences of the Military-Industrial complex, (defined in a speech by US President Dwight D. Eisenhower) take us down paths that lead away from what is for the public good and that damage the public trust. Where profit becomes a goal that can only be fulfilled by the intervention of the state.

"The wealth of nations" is no concern of the "architects of policy", who, as [Adam] Smith insists, seek private gain. The fate of the common people is no more their concern than that of the "mere savages" who stand in the way. If an "invisible hand" sometimes provided others with benefits, that is merely incidental. ~ Noam Chomsky "Year 501 The Conquest Continues"