this post was submitted on 15 May 2024
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So, are you trying to say we don't have enough democracy, or that we should have something else? What without that something be?
This is a rehash of a classic joke about capitalism vs communism. The American worker feels free because they can criticize their government. The Soviet worker feels free because they can criticize their boss. The joke was funnier during the cold war.
The problem with the joke is that it reinforces the lie that the two are mutually exclusive. Both nations were run by oligarchs selling the idea that their system, which keeps them in power, is in the best interest of the people. But you can have socialist worker protections AND democratic values. Individual rights and economic regulation are synergistically beneficial. It's just much harder to abuse that system to take and keep power.
Completely agree.
The comic is asserting that even though we live in a political democracy, almost nothing is democratic. It's also saying that true democracy would be workers having control over their workplace and the economy. It's saying that we spend 2080 hours or more at work per year, nearly a quarter of the entire year, in a dictatorship.