Table of Contents for THE MYTH OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Table of Contents for

"The Myth of American Democracy"

Introduction

Chapter One - Democracy’s Milieu
1.1 Hyperbole and Reality
1.2 Basic Forms of Government
1.3 The Democratic Form
1.4 Representative Democracy
1.5 American Democracy in Theory
1.6 American Democracy in Actuality

Chapter Two - Democracy’s Purview
2.1 Democracy’s Assumptions and Requirements
2.2 Democracy’s Principles and Ideals
2.3 Constitutional Principles
2.4 Representative Principles
2.5 The (Alleged) Advantages or Benefits of Democracy

Chapter Three - Democracy’s Problems
3.1 Introduction
3.2 General
3.3 Based on False Conception, Faulty Premise, or Fantasy
3.4 Fundamental Differences and Incoherence
3.5 Democracy is not Freedom or Sovereignty
3.6 Destruction of Voluntary Cooperation and Private Sector Initiative
3.7 The System is a Farce, Masquerade, Lie
3.8 Social Contract Theory and the Farce of Consent
3.9 Majority Rule
3.10 The Farce of Representation
3.11 Democracy is Aristocratic in Practice
3.12 The System is Self-Interested, Self-Aggrandizing
3.13 System Veneration, Preservation, and Lack of Effective Influence
3.14 Government Class Conflict of Interest
3.15 No Effective Public Means to Fight Usurpation of Powers
3.16 The Farce of Constrained Power
3.17 The Farce of Accountability
3.18 Coercive, Tyrannical, and Suffocating
3.19 Bad Information, Deception, and Manipulation
3.20 The Political Discourse is Indecent
3.21 Too Difficult or Complicated to Understand or Participate
3.22 General and Political Ignorance
3.23 Psychological and Cognitive Difficulties
3.24 The Interference and Distortion of Bias
3.25 Produces Division and Antagonism
3.26 Encourages or Supports Degenerate Mindsets
3.27 Mental Health Effects
3.28 Politics Distorts Truth and Reality
3.29 The Delusion of Political Fairness
3.30 The System is Controlled by Powerful Interests
3.31 Democracy is Incoherent and Dysfunctional

Chapter Four - Elections and Voting
4.1 The Nature of the System
4.2 Participation
4.3 Outcomes
4.4 Meaningless and Worthless
4.5 Bombastic, Delusional, Meaningless, Idiotic Statements on Voting
4.6 Reasons People Do (Should) Vote
4.7 Reasons People Don’t (Shouldn’t) Vote

Chapter Five - Related Apologia
5.1 The Cover Story
5.2 Individualism and Voluntaryism
5.3 Conflating Democracy with Egalitarianism and Collectivism
5.4 Liberty versus Democracy, and Democratic Tyranny
5.5 Federalism, Decentralization, and Limited Government
5.6 Conclusions

Back Matter
Appendix A – Democratic Bombast, Demagogy, Adage, Hype
Appendix B – Questions

“Apart from the peculiar tenets of individual thinkers, there is also in the world at large an increasing inclination to stretch unduly the powers of society over the individual, both by the force of opinion and even by that of legislation: and as the tendency of all the changes taking place in the world is to strengthen society, and diminish the power of the individual, this encroachment is not one of the evils which tend spontaneously to disappear, but, on the contrary, to grow more and more formidable. The disposition of mankind, whether as rulers or as fellow-citizens, to impose their own opinions and inclinations as a rule of conduct on others, is so energetically supported by some of the best and by some of the worst feelings incident to human nature, that it is hardly ever kept under restraint by anything but want of power; and as the power is not declining, but growing, unless a strong barrier of moral conviction can be raised against the mischief, we must expect, in the present circumstances of the world, to see it increase.”

– John Stuart Mill, On Liberty

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