By now, it must be clear to any critically thoughtful observer that the noble experiment, the US-brand of democracy is generally a failure.

Government of, by and for the people, has become government of, by and for the moneyed, corporate interests. Congress, the Senate, the state legislatures, on down to local government are in the hands, and at the mercy, of lobbyists, business and corporations. Favors are traded, bartered and sold in pursuit of re-election funds without regard for the welfare or well-being of the public at large.

The much touted 'rule of law' has become a cover for multiple injustices from the repeated, systemic persecution of innocents convicted by ignorant juries under rules of court that prevent correction of manifest errors, to the expropriation of individual's property for the benefit of corporate entities. Solomon is dead; wisdom, abandoned. All that matters now is playing by the 'rules'.

The electoral system is mockery of the founders' intent: election fraud is endemic with untraceable, unverifiable results and an electorate benumbed into indolence by addiction to entertainment spectaculars in lieu of rational consideration of the issues.

The health care system is a calamitous trainwreck. In lieu of an equitable, reasonable, just healthcare system, the medical-pharmaceutical complex produces ever-rising healthcare costs that far exceed, in fact are a major contributor to, the rise in the cost of living in this country.

Healthcare providers, insurers, facilities such as hospitals and clinics, and the pharmaceutical industry are collectively the 6,000 lb gorilla in each of our living rooms, whom NO ONE is holding to account for exorbitant increases in pricing without corresponding increase in quantity or quality of service.

Healthcare distribution is grossly inequitable, based on the ability to pay, not upon need. In general, there is no uniformity of pricing across the population. The wealthy, and powerful groups, are charged far less than individuals particularly those without healthcare insurance. The injustice is palpable. The US stands far down the list of nations with cost-effective health care. Doctors, for-profit hospitals and pharmaceutical companies profiteer on the backs of the poor and the barely surviving, financially. Rather than its being the duty of the government to provide for those who cannot provide for themselves, those with the greatest ability to pay pay the least.

Yet no one will take on this league of Goliaths. Everything in this country's economy is predicated on transferring wealth from those who have far too little to those who have far too much. The U.S. healthcare fiasco is just one blatant example. When is something EFFECTIVE going to be done to stop the rape of the impoverished, medically needy by those who view them as a cash-cow to be bled dry? Our healthcare is a national disgrace and an international joke.

A government is only so credible as its record of honesty, candor and reliability. The government of the United States has failed EVERY test of trustworthiness. The one and only thing it can be relied upon is to lie, deceive and feed double-talk to the public while pursuing its and its supporters' nefarious objectives. It is long past time for the public to rise up and reject the reign of duplicity that our government represents.

The attempt is to equate the interests of the sitting government, the current hegemony, the status quo, with the best interests of the nation as a whole; but they are not.

Neither are the best interests of the people the same as the "national self-interest" when the nation behaves like a common street thug, imposing its will on others, peoples or nations, by force, brutality or conspiracy. No matter what the organization of any nation's government, its people are first and foremost members of the community of human beings. No government has the right to proclaim itself above the responsibility its people bear toward the welfare and wellbeing of the rest of humankind.

But seduced by appeals to "national self-interest" - by which is meant best interests of the prevailing government and its corporate sponsors - debauched by an obsessive preoccupation with entertainments in lieu of meaningful, constructive, productive endeavor, the United States has lost its sense of decent concern and regard not only for its own citizenry but for the rest of humankind. It has defaulted on its responsibility to treat its own and the rest of humanity with the same compassion, caring and concern we each owe all others. It has become a cesspool of greed, self-gratification and betrayal of the other members of our species for personal gain.

Although local pockets of genuinely democratic, socially concerned, benevolent behavior persist, in the large the United States is no longer a democracy that strives for the welfare of all the people. Rather it is a nation of some 300-million autocrats, each individual a focus of personal self-interest to the exclusion of the welfare of the rest of the planet. Contradicted by all empirical evidence, the myth predominates that everyone's grabbing whatever they can for their own personal benefit will ultimately result in the general welfare and well-being. The unique U.S. ideal, the noble experiment in humane self-governing democracy for the good of all, is a tragic, pathetic failure.

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Biography and additional articles by Axis Columnist John N. Cooper