Weapons of mass distraction We should diminish the influence of big money in America before bringing democracy to Iraq BY PAM STEAGER

More than a few eyebrows were raised when it was announced that plans for rebuilding Iraq include providing universal healthcare to all Iraqi citizens. Call them crazy, but some people thought it might be a good idea to implement this practice at home before attempting to provide it to others. I’m beginning to feel the same way about the concept of bringing democracy to Iraq.

It’s time to admit it, folks — we don’t live in a democracy anymore. We live in a plutocracy — a government or state in which the wealthy rule. Republican Kevin Phillips, author, commentators, and former editor-publisher of the American Political Report, comes right out and says so in his book, Wealth and Democracy (Broadway Books, 2002). Reviewers called it the "first major book of its kind since the 1930s," and referred to Phillips as a "modern Thomas Paine." Shows just how many people have been willing to take on big business and the very rich since the early days of revolution in this country.

During an appearance on the PBS program Now with Bill Moyers, Phillips was asked what ordinary Americans could do about the current state of affairs. He replied, "Keep fighting . . . Have the courage to put on the front page what they won’t really touch now." Of course, ordinary Americans don’t really have much say about what gets on the front page or which story leads the nightly news. Bill Moyers picked up on this, asking Phillips if he expected to get much populism from media conglomerates and national news anchors who earn up to $9 million. Phillips admitted this is a fundamental problem, saying, "How do you get dynasties to talk about other dynasties?"

Asked to explain how the pro-wealth policies of the right have enjoyed so much support among working and low-income Americans, Phillips said that a Democratic candidate should remind Democrats of stuff they haven’t heard in a long time.

I certainly don’t want to discourage any thoughts of a populist candidate rising from the ranks of the Democratic hopefuls. I enjoyed hearing former Vermont governor Howard Dean refer to himself as being from the Democratic wing of the Democrat Party. I just don’t think political campaigns or party politics as usual are going to be the key to restoring democracy. More than that will be needed to undo the damage done by the weapons of mass distraction among us. There’s no need to go searching for them. They are right in front of our faces, literally: Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and Who Wants To Marry a Millionaire. I think the answer to Bill Moyers’s question is that many Americans live in the fantasyland of being wealthy wannabes. Many working and low-income Americans endure pro-wealth policies either because they’re being entertained to death or are too busy trying to keep their heads above water to notice. Kevin Phillips explains that the kind of equality sold to Americans is not equality of rights or of voice, but of consumption. The right to own the biggest SUV that credit can buy, a TV in every room, and so on.

If democracy is really what we are after, we could achieve it with a tiny fraction of the money that was just spent on the destruction of the infrastructure of Iraq. There are lots of good ideas about how to inspire and inform citizens about their right and responsibility to vote, how to get decent representation, how to get their voices heard. Instead, we’ve witnessed a presidential election in which registered voters were actually kept from the polls. We have witnessed American citizens being criticized for exercising their freedom of speech.

It was somewhat comforting to read Michael Moore’s report about the result of the "backlash" to his Academy Award acceptance speech, in which he criticized the Bush administration. Turnout for his film Bowling for Columbine rose 110 percent the next week, and the number of theatres showing it increased. There were more pre-orders for the documentary at amazon.com than for the Best Picture award-winning Chicago. Moore’s book Stupid White Men bounced back up to number one on the New York Times bestseller list for an unprecedented fourth time. He received funding for his next documentary and an offer for a return engagement on television. His Web site was receiving 10 million to 20 million hits a day.

It was recently reported that the IRS will use $100 million of our tax dollars to scrutinize the returns of those claiming the earned-income tax credit (for families of four earning less than $35,000, for example), looking for potential fraud. Financially strapped states are considering cutbacks in education and in Medicaid benefits providing healthcare for poor children. Congress is considering the sweetly named Family Time Flexibility Act, which basically means the end of compensated overtime as we know it. Kevin Phillips reports that the average American already works 350 hours more per year than the typical European. Do you think there could be a connection between this fact and the much greater attendance at European anti-war protests? Perhaps the people there have a bit more time to reflect than we do. Perhaps they are a bit more critical of the big sell of the American media. A little less enthralled with the bells, whistles, smoke, and mirrors of the great and powerful Wizard of Oz. A little more into sniffing out the frightened old man behind the curtain. The media literacy movement began outside the United States, in other English-speaking countries being inundated by American media.

As an attempt to create more critical viewers of the media messages that surround us, media literacy has struggled to gain a foothold in the most media-saturated country on the planet, but it’s a part of basic education in many other countries. It’s about asking questions about the messages we receive from the media every day: Who is the author and what is their purpose? What techniques did they use to attract attention? What lifestyles, values, and attitudes are represented? How would different people interpret this message in different ways? What is omitted from the message?

Last week, I watched a video about preparing for the American citizenship exam that asked the question, "Do you know what communism means?" The correct answer was given as, "Yes, communism means no freedom." I always thought it had to do with the holding of all property in common, unlike capitalism, which allows for private and corporate holdings of wealth. The problem, of course, is that communism was both an economic system and a totalitarian system of government that had little to do with sharing the wealth. Luckily, we have two very distinct systems of economics and government, or do we? I think this blurring of the lines between systems of government and economic systems is at the heart of the current American dilemma. While we watch (if we watch) the efforts to establish democracy in Iraq, perhaps we can take notes. We might pick up some pointers on how we can start to rebuild the democratic infrastructure here at home. And we can ask questions about whether our actions — both at home and abroad — have more to do with capitalism or democracy.

I watched another video last week about another American not afraid to speak or sing out against the injustice and inequality he saw in his homeland. Bound for Glory shows all too well how capitalism and democracy sometimes seem to have cross-purposes. In his anthem to America, "This Land is Your Land," the subject of the film, singer Woody Guthrie wrote:

In the squares of the city — In the shadow of the steeple

Near the relief office — I see my people

And some are grumblin’ and some are wonderin’

If this land’s still made for you and me

Let’s hope it is.

Pam Steager can be reached at pamsteager@earthlink.net