Dear Editor,
If “capitalist democracy” is becoming an oxymoron, it’s not because of cash grants or vote buying schemes or because more of us got the right to vote. As we move closer to Elections we will be witnessing Jagdeo, Ali, Nandlall, Ashni putting in place maneuvers and policies with the sole intent of killing democracy. Not coincidentally, the 2020’s will mark the last gasp of the Gilded Age, where we saw economic expansion as a time of materialistic excesses marked by widespread political corruption, when much of the nation’s wealth, with the rest of the nation, go deep into debt both to maintain our standard of living and to maintain overall demand for the goods and services the nation produces.
When this current debt bubble burst, we will go into a depression, which will create conditions for the emergence of strongmen who would be able to create the worst threats to freedom and democracy modern day Guyana had ever witnessed. If Guyana learnt anything from the fascism that grew like a cancer in the 1970’s – 80’s, it should have been that gross inequalities of income and wealth fuel gross inequalities of political power — as Jagdeo, Ali, Nandlall and others are putting on full display — which in turn generate strongmen who destroy both democracy and freedom. History shows that under fascist strongmen, no one is safe — not even oligarchs.
Sincerely,
Hem Kumar
