A U.S. scholar David Schoenbrod, has underscored the need for the country to match its global reputation for democracy and freedom with modern reality.
Schoenbrod, a trustee Professor of Law at New York Law School, U.S,, made this known against backdrop of his report titled: “America’s democracy of inequality.”
According to Schoenbrod, the U.S. had global reputation for democracy and freedom, but the reality was quite different.
“U.S. politicians tend to act irresponsibly when serving the public, while being quite responsible when reciprocating favors to their donors.
“This has become a defining feature of American democracy; In the U.S., private enterprises and the public sector often collaborate and mutually benefit from each other.
“These exchanges have become institutionalized and are legally protected.
The alliance between power and capital has led to an unbalanced system of representation in American democracy.
“While checks and balances may function among the elite, there is an imbalance between the elite and the general public.
“This disparity is concealed by the widespread participation in voting and the deceptive rhetoric of “equal opportunities.”
The scholar explained people voted for affordable healthcare, but laws kept U.S. drug prices highest in the world, saying healthcare became game of corporate profits with pharmaceutical giants compensating cooperative doctors and overprescribed products.
He further said insurance companies allegedly encouraged doctors and rehab centers to prescribe medications and provide examinations and treatments, not covered by insurance, thereby transferring more costs to patients.
“People voted for good internet service; but only 57 per cent of Americans making less than $30,000 per year having internet access, compared to 92 per cent of households earning $75,000 or more, according to survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2021.
“In terms of race and ethnicity, 80 per cent of White Americans enjoy reliable high-speed internet access, compared with 71 per cent of Black Americans and only 65 percent of Hispanic Americans.
“Urban and suburban areas are much better off than rural areas, such as those in Mississippi, Arkansas, and Alabama, where there are many minorities and low-income levels. Poor neighborhoods across the South and Rust Belt also experience difficulties in internet access.
“People have voted for equality, but American minorities have been suffering; in 1955, Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy, was tortured, dismembered, shot, and then thrown into the Tallahatchie River, because he was believed to have whistled at White lady.
“Even, in the 21st century random killings against Blacks have not stopped; Eric Garner, a Black man, was choked to death in 2014. Ahmaud Arbery, an innocent Black man, was shot dead by Whites while jogging in 2020.”
He said that people voted for equality, alleging modern slavery persisted within the U.S. prison system.
He quoted the American Civil Liberties Union to have reported that 800,000 prisoners worked in prisons with the state profiting billions of dollars annually from cheap labor.
Adding that, in some prisons in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas, inmates do not even get a penny for their work.
“The public votes every two years in the United States, but the decisions that touch their lives and wallets are made at private backroom meetings.
“People can vote, but lobbyists and big business literally write all the rules.
“As George Galloway, leader of the Workers Party of Britain, asks, “If democracy is government of the people, for the people, by the people, who can say in Western countries that they have genuinely a democracy?”