2008 Woodie Awards
Democracy endangered by empire in the United States, professor says
By Alan Nieschwietz
Last update: 5/17/06 at 8:20 AM CST
- Page 1 of 1
The United States is now an empire, democracy is endangered, and if citizens want to make changes in government, they must organize.
Those were three things speakers told a standing-room-only audience of about 100 in the chemistry and geology building March 8 for the Hot Potato lecture titled "Erosion of Democracy."
Tom Keene, professor emeritus at Our Lady of the Lake University, began the lecture by stating Americans have two distinct heritages, that of a democratic republic and that of an empire.
"People don't get power from the government, government gets power from the people," he said, addressing his first point and emphasizing government exists to protect and serve the people.
He cited public education and the GI Bill as examples and said more tax revenues have been gained by these programs than have been spent on them.
An empire, on the other hand, invests its resources in the domination of its people as well as others, he said, and criticized the U.S. government for funding the most expensive military in the world but not paying for the college education of its citizens.
The resettlement of American Indians, the Mexican War of 1946-48 and military expeditions to Caribbean and Pacific islands in the early 1900s were among examples he cited that the U.S. is an empire.
Political science Professor Asslan Khaligh said there are "tremendous differences between those who govern us and you and me," and money interests are at the root of this.
Most of the leaders in the U.S. are upper-crust elites who are out of touch with the common people, he said.
"The founders had one intention, to create a limited government."
He then asked the audience if the U.S. government is limited and small today, then answered his own question by saying "we are an empire."
"To create democracy somewhere else," he said referring to the Iraq War, "you need to have democratic values here."
He gave as an example of the role of money in politics, $491,000 in recent campaign contributions from political contributor and philanthropist James Leininger to campaigns of conservative candidates in the Republican primary.
The Rev. Homer Bain, a retired Methodist minister who also works with Communities Organized for Public Service, said he and his organization want to make it "safe for elected officials to do the right thing and unsafe for them to do the wrong thing."
Bain said there are two kinds of power - organized money and organized people.
Organizing people is harder, he said.
To do this, one must create political will, and one of the ways to do this is to champion nonpartisan issues.
Once people are organized and voting rates are raised in a precinct by 10 percent to 15 percent, you are taken seriously by your elected officials, he said.
The Rev. Albert Clayton, a retired Methodist minister, shared advice he received from an elderly minister when he was college age:
"Everybody's got a built-in (expletive) detector, and every time you listen to these politicians, you need to use it."
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