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Democracy Chronicles

Fred Gohlke articles

Fred Gohlke writes for Democracy Chronicles from New Jersey. He has been a proud American for a long time and was born in his grandfather's house on a farm near Alexander, NY, about six months before The Crash, and was raised during The Great Depression.

Fred attended and graduated Salutatorian from Warsaw High School and spent 5 years in the U. S. Air Force. He served in Okinawa during the Korean War, where he met and married his wife. They have seven children.

His career has been in transportation, first as a transcontinental truck driver (which was conducive to pondering serious issues), later as a business owner, and still later as a computer system developer for a ship line. He did some work in Antwerp, Belgium during the 1990's in connection with the computer system he developed.

Fred's political experience is limited to one summer of lobbying against The Transportation Act of 1958. His concern with the inadequacy of our political system took root in the late 1950's and the attempt to conceive an electoral process that would correct the abuses he saw and has been a continuing exercise since that time.

His greatest hope is that, by expressing his thoughts, he will inspire someone to challenge them. Only then can we begin the slow process of evolving a more democratic political system for the humans among us.

Thoughts on Corporate Personhood

by Fred Gohlke - March 10, 2019

Corporate Personhood

In looking for sense in the modern world, we must not overlook the fact that, whatever the judicial rationale supporting the decision that corporations are persons, corporations are not human.

Filed Under: DC Authors Tagged With: Capitalism and Big Business, Citizens United, Money Politics, Supreme Court

Thoughts on Government

by Fred Gohlke - February 19, 2019

Thoughts on Government

There are three flaws in our government: the way we maintain our laws, the way we tax, and the way we select our representatives. Until we improve, we cannot sunset bad laws or improve the way we tax.

Filed Under: DC Authors Tagged With: Independent Politicians, Polling, Third Party

Thoughts on Corporate Taxation

by Fred Gohlke - January 25, 2019

Thoughts on Corporate Taxation

Do we have the courage to fight what Teddy Roosevelt called the “unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics”? Let’s find out! Some thoughts on providing revenue for the government.

Filed Under: DC Authors Tagged With: Capitalism and Big Business, Socialism and Labor

Thoughts on the Evolution of Democracy

by Fred Gohlke - January 19, 2019

Thoughts on the Evolution of Democracy

Democracy will not succeed until we recognize that there are many among us with the ability and the integrity to improve our lives. We must devise a way to seek them out and raise them to public office.

Filed Under: DC Authors Tagged With: Dictatorships, Election History, Founding Fathers

Thoughts on Eliminating Political Parties

by Fred Gohlke - January 15, 2019

Eliminating Political Parties

The danger is not in partisanship, it is in allowing partisans to control government. The question is how do we accommodate partisanship in our political infrastructure, without allowing parties to control the process?

Filed Under: DC Authors Tagged With: Direct Democracy and Referendums, Election Methods, Proportional Representation

Thoughts on Meritocracy

by Fred Gohlke - December 21, 2018

Thoughts on Meritocracy

When we adopt such a truly bottom-up, democratic system of representative government, it will be meritocratic naturally because the people will decide which of their peers have the merit to serve as their representatives.

Filed Under: DC Authors Tagged With: Election Methods

Thoughts on Candidate Selection

by Fred Gohlke - December 4, 2018

Candidate Selection

The most fundamental reason that voters cannot elect officials who will represent them is that political parties dictate the voter’s options.  George Washington warned us of the danger of factions in his Farewell Address.

Filed Under: DC Authors Tagged With: Founding Fathers, Independent Politicians, Third Party

Thoughts on Political Lobbying

by Fred Gohlke - November 28, 2018

Thoughts on Political Lobbying

Those wishing to affect pending legislation should present their arguments, publicly, in hearing rooms provided for the purpose — and that should be the absolute limit of their personal contact with our elected representatives.

Filed Under: DC Authors Tagged With: American Corruption, Money Politics, Political Lobbying

Thoughts on the American Political System

by Fred Gohlke - November 20, 2018

Thoughts on the American Political System

Why is our political infrastructure a shambles that produces so few trustworthy candidates for public office?  The answer lays in the foundation of democracy and the edifice we’ve built on that foundation.

Filed Under: DC Authors Tagged With: Election History, Election Methods, Founding Fathers, Independent Politicians, Voting Technology

Thoughts on People and Myths: The Great Depression

by Fred Gohlke - November 9, 2018

The Great Depression

Academics are slowly coming to realize that the US is more an oligarchy than a democracy, but it will take time to loosen the grip of the democracy myth on the people.

Filed Under: DC Authors Tagged With: Election History, Political Artwork, Socialism and Labor

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Our guests this week offer a framework for effective nonviolent organizing by trapping authority figures between a rock and a hard place.

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