The rule
Of the many is not well. One must be chief
In war and one the king. Homer, The Iliad II:253
This is the most dramatic and important democratic decision ever taken by the British people. But it leaves our country deeply divided. The Andrew Marr Show, BBC 2016
This has been the rebellion of the diminished against the cocky, the ignored against the shapers of modern times, and the struggling against the strutting. ibid.
Sorry, we have more rights here because we are a majority. You have fewer rights because you are a minority. Absolutely, that’s how democracy works. So, it is a question of accepting the rules within democracy and you must operate in them. Jacob Zuma, President’s Question Time 13th September 2012
What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? How do we get rid of you? Tony Benn
Even relatively benign and temporary authoritarianism that rests upon elected power is being challenged. We are moving rapidly towards a situation where the pressure for the redistribution of political power will have to be faced as a major political issue. In a world where authoritarianism of the left or right is a very real possibility, the question of whether ordinary people can govern themselves by consent is still on trial — as it always has been, and always will be. Beyond parliamentary democracy as we know it, we shall have to find a new popular democracy to replace it. Tony Benn, speech Welsh Council of Labour May 1968, cited The Times 27 May 1968
I think people have to have some feeling that they have some role in shaping their own future and that they are not just spectators on the [lives] of kings, presidents, prime ministers and so on which is on the whole what modern democracies – America, Britain, Europe – tend to do. They turn people into spectators. Spectators who can be bought by clever advertising to appear to support [the people] – but once they’ve granted their support then they’re expected just to sit back for five years and watch the great and the good they’ve elected governing the country. That is not democratic in the proper sense, but it’s better than not being able to get rid of people who govern you. So it’s a very imperfect democracy: it has no industrial elements, no democracy in the media or business, and not necessarily much democracy in education. The conclusion I’ve reached over the years is that democracy is the most controversial idea. Nobody in power wants democracy. The Pope didn’t want it: he picks all the cardinals. The Church of England doesn’t have it because the Prime Minister picks the leader. Stalin didn’t like it. Hitler didn’t like it, New Labour doesn’t like it. They just want to use an idea to control. Tony Benn, interview January 2003
I think democracy is the most revolutionary thing in the world, far more revolutionary than socialist ideas or anybody else’s idea, but if you have power, you use it to meet the needs of you and your community. And this idea of choice which capital talks about all time – you’ve got to have a choice. Choice depends on the freedom to choose. And if you’re shackled with debt you don’t have a freedom to choose ... I think that if poor here in Britain or in the United States turned out and voted for people who really represented their interests, there would be a real democratic revolution. Tony Benn MP, interview Michael Moore, Sicko 2007
You see I think there are two ways of keeping people controlled: first of all, frighten people; and secondly demoralise them. An educated, healthy and confident nation is harder to govern ... The top one per cent of the world’s population own 80 per cent of the world’s wealth – it’s incredible that people put up with it. But, they are poor, they are demoralised, they are frightened. ibid.
If I reflect on the way our society is organised – democracy ought to be a means by which we change the system to meet people’s needs: and it’s been subtly transformed into changing people to meet the needs of the system. And that is the great failure. Tony Benn, Last Will & Testament, Youtube 1.31.36
At the bottom this erodes the importance of the vote for people in this country … It prevents people using the ballot box … to change taxes and laws … We are being invited to give up those rights. Panorama, Tony Benn vs Roy Jenkins ***** with David Dimbleby, Benn, BBC 1975
Will destroy all that is most valuable in Britain. ibid.
Absolute sovereignty is nonsense. ibid. Jenkins
I think it’s about democracy. ibid. Benn
Pool our sovereignty. ibid. Jenkins
It would create jobs for our people – that was his [Heath] phrase. ibid. Benn
Common Market membership has been a disaster. ibid.
We’ve really got to have confidence in this country’s capacity to survive. ibid.
An economic and monetary union is a long way off … I think as a long-term objective, yes, it could be highly desirable. ibid. Jenkins
‘I don’t admire the Koch brothers. I’m not against people who make money, that’s fine. But what they do with their money isn’t fine with me. The Koch brothers – they are determined to do away with government.’ Koch Brothers Exposed, Harry Reid senator, 2014
Billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch are the poster boys for the top one per cent using their money to fuel the growing inequality in America. Day in and day out we see the Kochs using their billions to purchase politicians and policies, taking a terrible toll on democracy as they knock down the middle class, stomping on poor people. ibid.
They inherited a big pile of money from daddy Fred. ibid.
Koch industries is the second largest privately held corporation in the country … (Democracy & Elite & Wealth & Politics) ibid.
‘They are interested in using the money they make to buy a political system that allows them to become dominant players in the shaping of the country. ibid. John Nichols
The Kochs gave $23 million to think-tanks that published 4,055 studies, papers and media projects targeting minimum wage. Koch-funded politicians proposed 67 bills in 25 states targeting minimum wage. ibid.
The Koch brothers have given more than $22 to think-tanks, politicians and Alec to pass anti-union legislation. ibid.
‘To the air and to the water of a lot of nasty chemicals.’ ibid.
‘Koch is using natural streams to transport waste.’ ibid.
‘Koch Industries is one of the primary sources of pollution in the United States.’ ibid.
‘The Koch brothers are killing me and my family.’ ibid.
‘The coloured man looms large in the communist plan to take over America.’ Citizen Koch, Fred Koch, founder John Birch society, 2013
‘I call them patriots.’ ibid. Mitt Romney
‘I was shocked at the arrogance of the court; I was shocked at the fact that they thought corporations were people.’ ibid. Bob Edgar
Money also pours into state and local elections after 22 states lifts their corporate spending bans. ibid.
David Koch and his brother Charles are worth $100 billion. They founded and bankroll the anti-government group Americans for Prosperity and other groups that advance their business interests. ibid.
The People vs Donald J Trump: Donald J Trump did not win this election; he didn’t win the popular vote and he didn’t win the votes in the states of Michigan, Wisconsin … Those states were stolen. Greg Palast, Home to the Best Democracy Money Can Buy, Youtube 2016
Vote thievery doesn’t come cheap … These are the creepiest billionaires on the planet. ibid.
Donald J Trump said this election’s rigged – and he’s right. ibid.
‘Over a million people voted twice in this election.’ ibid. Dick Morris
‘You have people in my opinion that are voting many many times.’ ibid. Trump
2000 Bush vs Gore: Florida – a different hidden database of voters secretly tagged for elimination. ibid.
2000: The Great Felony Voter Purge. ibid.
Thousands of mismatched birthdates … Thousands never convicted at all … The number of real felons on Bush’s vote list – zero. ibid.
Koch – Heritage Foundation – Voter Crosscheck. ibid.
[Paul] Singer the Vulture is the No 1 donor to the Republican Party. ibid.
They [black voters] waited for hours. ibid.
Over 1,000,000 absentee ballots are rejected. ibid.
Over 3,000,000 of you will not have your votes counted. ibid.
Horror: The Koch Brothers Bring You the Ultimate in Fear! ibid.
It’s now lynching by laptop. ibid.
Ohio: 43,000 black voters have just vanished. ibid.
June 2013: The US Supreme Court ripped out a key section of the Voting Rights Act … It was Koch money behind the hit. ibid.
Is vote suppression just another profit centre? ibid.
‘The phony election: bogus rallies, photo stunts, vacuous sound bites, and the Press banned – never before have ALL parties so cynically tried to dupe voters’. Brian Gerrish, Beyond Authority, lecture Alternative View 6 conference, ‘Election Fraud and the Rush Towards Communitarianism’, citing Mail online Steven Glover re 2015 election