Date: Sun, 23 May 1999 18:07:34 -0400 From: Enrique Diaz-Alvarez <enrique at ee.cornell.edu> Reply-To: enrique at ee.cornell.edu Organization: Cornell University X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.04Gold (Win95; U) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com Subject: Re: wicked projects
Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> We have listmembers from many countries of the world. I'd be interested if
> they feel democratically deprived next to the U.S.
>
The short answer is no. When we go to the polls in Spain, the range of political options available to the voter is, at least in economic issues, much wider than that in the US: anywhere from communists to Thatcherites.
On the other hand, the judiciary branch is *much* weaker than in the US. To some extent, this means that individual rights are given shorter thrift than here. Decisive, life-changing judicial action like Brown vs. Board of Education would be almost unthinkable in Spain.
I tend to think that, with the (admittedly crucial) exception of the role of money in politics, the root cause for the political problems Doug describes have little to do with the US constitution. The role of mass media and education are much more important.
Enrique