...if only we had a vote counting system and a political system that could respond to the will of the people. We need to restore the basic conditions of democracy--first of all, by throwing out the privately controlled 'TRADE SECRET' vote counting systems that were spread like a plague to every state in the U.S. during the 2002 to 2004 period, and are now 75% controlled by one, private, far rightwing-connected corporation (ES&S, which bought out Diebold), and we need to, somehow, overcome the billions in political cash that are, literally, poisoning our political life, though I don't see how we can do the latter (elect leaders who are not dependent on corporate cash) without first doing the former--restoring vote counting to the PUBLIC venue.

While the Packaged 'News' Media is horrible, it is not decisive, as Venezuela has shown. Given honest and transparent elections, and grass roots organization, the people can overcome the corporate propaganda machine.

I am not sure of the democracy fundamentals in Chile (the vote counting system, the rules about donations especially corporate cash, and other clean election rules) but the struggle there for proper representation of the interests of the 99% in government does have some lessons for us:

1. Education is fundamental to democracy. Those who attack education are anti-democratic. Period. End of story.

2. Tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum political parties will never result in economic or any other kind of justice for the 99% and are essentially anti-democratic.

What happened in Chile in the last election cycle, according to analysis that I've read, is that the socialist party (then in power) was punished by some of its traditional voters--many workers and the poor stayed home on election day--because it had compromised too much with the transglobal corporations and uber-rich who constitute the common enemy of people here, there and everywhere. This is what accounts for socialist president Michele Batchelet, who left office with an 80% (!) approval rating, being unable to transfer her popularity to her successor. Thus, rightwing billionaire Sebastian Pinera got elected president of Chile, and it wasn't long before his approval rating plunged to 25%. This is so similar to the 2004 election here--with Bush Jr.'s approval rate plunging to (I think it was) 40% mere weeks after his inauguration--that I'm still suspicious about the election mechanics in Chile. In any case, it was Pinera's attacks on education, and the student response, led by Camila Vallejo and Noam Titelman, that finally roused the 99% to fight back. The analysis that I read said that Chile's socialist party needed shaking up, needed "new blood." That is what Vallejo and Titelman and the student movement are providing.

Here, the Packaged 'News' accepts the situation that many middle class young people (not to mention poor young people!) can't afford college any more. This is unacceptable in a democracy in the modern world. Just in practical terms, it means social/economic decay and decrepitude--loss of innovation, loss of ideas, loss of upward mobility, loss of economic development and momentum. As to the even more important requirement of democracy--an educated voting population--it is lethal. You want to kill democracy? Start with attacking and destroying the educational system.

That democracy is dependent upon education is understood in virtually every democracy in the world except our own. It is fundamental to the leftist democracy movement that has swept much of South America. Every one of the new leftist governments in South America is strongly committed to education--and, indeed, to providing free education through college to all of its citizens. (The Chavez government in Venezuela, for instance, has doubled college enrollment, and has created hundreds of new universities, and not only subsidizes tuition for the poor but also provides other supports if needed--for instance, housing/food for single mothers trying to go back to school.)

What happens with Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum is that Tweedle-dee loots the government and the economy, then Tweedle-dum cringes in fear of "deficits" and starts cutting out the heart of democracy, education, and all other bootstrapping or common decency programs. The result is a ruined democracy, a ruined society and an economy that cannot recover or cannot recover with equitably distributed wealth.

Tweedle-dee/Tweedle-dum political parties ran rampant over Latin America, in service to U.S., European and transglobal looters before this looting expedition and its mop-up operation hit here. We are therefore behind the "learning curve" that activated the Latin American left around the time that Bush Jr. started the looting here (May 3, 2001, first tax cut for the rich). Activists in Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and other countries began, around that same time, to organize the remedy to massive looting by the uber-rich--the awesome remedy of real democracy. They led re-writes of their constitutions, in many cases--and, for instance, established education and health care as fundamental rights. They fought huge, successful battles against "privatization" (for instance, the battle against Bechtel in Bolivia and the battle against Exxon Mobil in Venezuela). They elected New Deal, FDR-like presidents whose mandate is to serve the good of the country, not the good of transglobal corporations and the World Bank/IMF. And the results are stunning. Every one of these countries that established real democracy over the last decade has experienced fast recovery from the Bush Junta-instigated worldwide depression, dramatic reductions of poverty, and dramatic increases in educational opportunity and other social goods. Venezuela--the pioneer of this movement--was recently designated "THE most equal country" in Latin America on income distribution, by the UN Economic Commission on Latin America and the Caribbean (something you will never hear about in the Packaged 'News').

The other huge movement that has occurred simultaneously, driven by the leftist democracies, is the movement toward Latin American political/economic integration. This movement, which has created new region-wide institutions--to replace those like the OAS, NAFTA and CAFTA, that are dominated by the U.S. and designed to enrich the uber-rich--is based on the notion that the sovereignty of Latin American countries can only be established and guaranteed by unity--by their pulling together for strength in numbers.

The U.S.-friendly rightwing governments, such as Chile and Colombia, cannot afford to be seen as opposing LatAm sovereignty. It is too universally desired by Latin Americans. So they have joined these new institutions but they, at the same time, profoundly undermine their own countries' sovereignty by welcoming the plunder and rapine of U.S.-based transglobals and the corrosive militarism of the U.S. "war on drugs." Pinera has also proven to be an operative of U.S. "divide and conquer" strategy, by the trouble he is causing Bolivia over Bolivia's access to the sea--a matter that Michele Bachelet had settled with Bolivia in an agreement that Pinera canceled on his first day in office, even before his inauguration.

It is quite important to Latin America's future--to its prosperity and independence, and to its establishment and defense of real democracy--that Pinera be thrown out of office, and that a new, revitalized socialist party find the leadership it needs to win the next elections. Pinera represents the 1%, the uber rich and their transglobal (not to mention Pentagon) allies. He is like the Reagan-Bush horribles here. He WILL destroy Chile's educational system and social justice system, and WILL destroy Chile's middle class and kick the poor "off the island" altogether, if he is not stopped. He is also a toxic worm within the regional integration movement who will cause as much trouble as he can, for Bolivia and other members of the leftist alliance. Whether Chile's student movement can spark reform within Tweedle-dum (the socialist party) and whether Chile's election system can respond to the will of the people remain to be seen. But it is certainly wondrous to see a leftist democracy movement unfold and this always provides hope that it can happen here, too.