Disaster Capitalism in Michigan: Part II – Mackinac Center creates a far right coalition from Hell
Yesterday, 
we looked at how Disaster Capitalism is being promoted in Michigan, with our post on Americans for Prosperity Michigan.
In Part II, we want to take a good look at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and a new coalition they have formed with two of the main far right policy entities in Michigan, both of which are essentially front groups for the DeVos family.
The DeVos family has been a long time funder for the Mackinac Center, with some family members sitting on their Board of Directors over the years. Currently, the only board members from West Michigan are Richard Haworth (Haworth Furniture) and J.C. Huizenga, founder of the private charter school group, National Heritage Academies, and a member of the Grand Rapids Power Structure.
The two groups that the Mackinac Center for Public Policy has partnered with are the Great Lakes Education Project and Michigan Freedom Fund. Betsy DeVos created the Great Lakes Education Project to promote her Neo-Liberal Education model and the Michigan Freedom Fund is run by Greg McNeilly, who works directly for the DeVos family as the Chief Operating Officer for The Windquest Group. McNeilly was once quoted as saying:
“Political speech is the most protected form of speech, and we need more people participating at higher levels. We should applaud anyone who is leading on that dimension and try to encourage greater participation in our great American experiment.”
These three groups – Mackinac Center for Public Policy, the Great Lakes Education Project and the Michigan Freedom Fund – all have a scary history of pushing for far right policies in Michigan. However, this new coalition, what the Mackinac Center is calling the COVID-19 Coalition, is far more dangerous together then they are as lone entities.
This COVID-19 Coalition, which should more honestly be called a Disaster Capitalism Coalition, is calling for major policy changes in the state of Michigan. In true Orwellian fashion, this coalition is naming their work as a Blueprint for Health, Safety and Economic Opportunity. This new coalition is calling for states policies that Michigan should enact and policies they should NOT enact.
You can go to this link to look at the COVID-19 Coalition wish list of Do’s and Don’ts, but below is a summary of what they are calling for and what we are pointing out about these policy do’s and don’ts.
As you can see, the COVID-19 Coalition policy Do’s and Don’ts are not only dangerous, they are clearly designed to push a Neo-Liberal Capitalist wish list during the current pandemic. The Capitalist Class would like us to be distracted with how they are “helping” during the COVID-19 crisis, because what they are hoping to do under the radar will not only widen the wealth gap in Michigan, it will further push a de-regulation and anti-environmentalism.
The Capitalist Class LOVES Disaster Capitalism!
If people are familiar with Naomi Klein’s important book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, then people understand that the proponents of Neo-Liberal Capitalism are always seeking to capitalize on redirecting public money and public services to the private sector during a crisis.
I want to look at how the proponents of Neo-Liberal Capitalism in Michigan are planning to use the current crisis to further advance their own interests, particularly through state policy.
In Part I, we want to look at the role that Americans for Prosperity Michigan are proponents of Disaster Capitalism.
On March 26th, the online independent news source, The Intercepted, posted an article entitled, Charles Koch Network Pushed $1 Billion Cut to CDC, Now Attacks Shelter in Place Policies for Harming Business.
In that article, it mentions how the Koch created group, Americans for Prosperity (AFP), have were responsible for pushing funding cuts to the CDC and now are against Shelter in Place policies. The article states:
The Michigan chapter of AFP on Monday slammed Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-at-home order, which closed down fitness centers, nail salons, amusement parks, casinos, and other businesses deemed nonessential, calling it the “wrong approach for our state.”
Whitmer’s order, variations of which are being implemented by state and local governments nationwide, contains exceptions for critical industries such as grocery stores, pharmacies, health care providers, financial services, transportation, child care, hazardous materials, and energy.
“All businesses are essential — to the people who own them, the people who work in them, and the communities they serve,” said Annie Patnaude, the Michigan state director for AFP, in a statement responding to the order.
The full statement by Americans for Prosperity Michigan Chapter reads:
“We are in the midst of an unprecedented health and economic crisis. However, a blanket shelter-in-place order is the wrong approach for our state. All businesses are essential — to the people who own them, the people who work in them, and the communities they serve.
“Entrepreneurship and human ingenuity will ultimately drive solutions to this global pandemic and create ways to get people what they need. Our policymakers should place a high priority on identifying ways to encourage innovation and not squelch it. We appreciate the example Governor Whitmer set when she took steps to remove excessive regulations in order to allow more people to safely access the health care they need.
“It is critically important that any further actions to address this threat are targeted, limited in scope, and free from politics. We look forward to working with our policymakers to identify other ways to improve health without disastrous economic side effects.”
In other words, Americans for Prosperity Michigan are both outraged that the government could shut down businesses, plus they believe that entrepreneurship will “drive solutions to this global pandemic.”
Americans for Prosperity has only been around since 2004, but the group has some 38 state chapters and has had a significant impact on both state and federal policy.
In Michigan, AFP was a major player in the effort to pass a Right to Work policy that was signed by Gov. Snyder in 2012. According to SourceWatch:
“Scott Hagerstrom, the Michigan director of AFP, stated the “Michigan passage of right-to-work legislation will be the shot heard around the world for workplace freedom. A victory over forced unionization in a union stronghold like Michigan would be an unprecedented win on par with Wisconsin that would pave the way for right to work in states across our nation.”
Americans for Prosperity have also worked to undermine the Affordable Care Act, have been a proponent of Climate Denial, and they were a major partner with the Republican Tea Party.
In Part II, we will look at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and their new partners that are pushing Disaster Capitalism policies in Michigan.
The Capitalist Class does not give a Shit about You: Essential workers and the myth of meritocracy
I am still going to work. I work as a direct care staff person in an adult foster care home for people who have had serious injuries. I assist people with basic, daily living dynamics like bathing, grooming, using the toilet, eating and distributing medication.
The needs of the residents I work with vary, but none of them are able to live on their own. Because of the COVID 19 crisis the residents where I work cannot have visitors and they cannot attend the daily activities they normal go to.
The work is physically demanding, requires that you can stomach unpleasant things like emptying catheter bags, but more importantly, my work requires that I have the kind of people skills and empathy for those whom society has pretty much discarded. Thus, I am an essential worker.
With the current COVID 19 crisis, it should be clear to most people that the Capitalist class does not give a shit about workers, essential or not. First, if I am an essential worker, then why do I not making a living wage? I do work that many people would not want to do, which is to make sure that the daily physical and emotional needs of people with severe disabilities are met. So, if I am an essential worker, a worker who cannot work from home, then why am I not compensated justly for my work? It would seem to me right now (actually, it is clear to me all the time, not just during a pandemic) that what I do is more relevant, indeed more important, than what a bond trader does. However, Capitalism deems that a bond trader makes a whole lot more money than I do.
Second, it is clear that the Capitalist class does not give a shit about workers, because they spend a portion of their wealth buying and lobbying politicians to make sure that legislative policies will primarily benefit their interests. Go to OpenSecrets.org and you can see that campaign financing and lobbying is dominated by the Capitalist class and the industries that they own.
Third, it is clear that the Capitalist class does not give a shit about workers, because they have been using their bought politicians right now to get “COVID 19 Relief bills” passed that will primarily benefit their interests, with some minimal relief for the rest of us. Wall Street can get bailed out again, but regular folks don’t. In fact, you and I get stuck with the bill. Also, don’t tell me that this shit is all on Republicans. Yes, Republicans are the highest order assholes, but Democrats also are bought and paid for. The Obama administration decided that bailing out Wall Street was more important than bailing out main street in 2009. Just because the Trump administration is so fucking awful doesn’t mean we should ignore the shitty things that the previous administration has done.
Lastly, it should be clear that the Capitalist class does not give a shit about you, because now they are saying that it is more important to save the economy than it is to keep people safe or to provide the necessary testing and health care that people need with the pandemic. Trump, numerous politicians and media pundits have been making this claim for weeks now. In Michigan, State Rep. Thomas Albert, who represents the 86th District (Lowell), said that the Governor’s stay at home order “goes too far.” Not surprising, is the fact that the number one campaign contributor to Albert is a member of the local capitalist class, John Kennedy.
The Capitalist class is only interested in their wealth and how to acquire more of it. The rest of us are expendable and if that is not clear under the current crisis, then you have have internalized the values of the Capitalist system. The question for those of us who are not part of the Capitalist class, is what will we do to change this, even after COVID 19 crisis is over?
Xenophobia and anti-Asian racism during the COVID-19 crisis: Acton Institute perpetuates hate
We have witnessed with increasing alarm, incidents all over the country targeting the Asian American community in connection to COVID-19. For example, in San Fernando, CA, a 16-year old Asian American boy was physically attacked at school because he was accused of having the coronavirus. In Plymouth, IN, two Hmong men were denied service at hotels under the false assumption that they were Chinese and carrying the coronavirus. In New York, a woman wearing a face mask, who was believed to be Asian, was physically and verbally assaulted in a subway station.
The above comments are from a letter that over 260 Civil Rights organizations sent to House and Senate leadership, calling for unity and publicly denouncing the racist and xenophobic attacks on Asian Americans. A link to the letter can be found here.
While there is great organizing and education being done to combat the anti-Asian racism and xenophobia, there are still too many entities perpetuating harmful and hateful positions that only perpetuates the increase of anti-Asian racism and xenophobia.
One such entity that is perpetuating xenophobia and anti-Asian racism is the Grand Rapids-based organization, the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty. Last week, they post this headline on their website, How Communist China’s virus coverup caused a pandemic.This post on the Acton site is based on an interview they did with Helen Raleigh, a senior contributor at The Federalist.
Raleigh is an immigrant from China, who is the owner of Red Meadow Advisors, LLC, a Colorado Registered Investment Advisory Firm, and an immigration policy fellow at the Centennial Institute in Colorado. Not surprising that the Acton Institute would use a Chinese immigrant, who not only despises the government of China, but who runs an investment firm. The Centennial Institute, where Raleigh is a policy fellow, is identified as part of a larger right-wing network, according to SourceWatch.
As was mentioned earlier, Raleigh is a contributor to The Federalist. The Federalist is a conservative online publication created in 2013, which promotes racism, homophobia, transphobia and many other far right positions, according to Media Matters.
Putting all of this context aside on who Helen Raleigh is, it is clear that the Acton Institute is engaging in xenophobia and anti-Asian racism primarily because they loath the political ideology of Communist China and because they think that the only economic vision that is beneficial to humanity is free market capitalism. How is free market capitalism working out right now for humanity?
In the early 80s, I cut my political teeth because of the Central American Solidarity Movement. While I was a seminary student at Aquinas College, we hosted a Salvadoran labor organizer, someone who had just survived a bomb attack, with a piece of shrapnel lodged in her head.
This was the first time I had heard about Oscar Romero, just 3 years after his assassination. Romero’s death was a huge catalyst for the thousands of people who got involved from the US in the Central American Solidarity Movement in the 1980s. Like lots of people, I participated in demonstration, distributed information, went to meetings, got arrested at government facilities, was part of a group that declared itself a sanctuary in 1986 in Grand Rapids, and eventually this work led me to do accompaniment work in Central American and Mexico on 13 separate trips between 1988 and 2006. I wrote about those experiences in the book Sembramos, Comemos, Sembrmos: Learning Solidarity on Mayan Time.
Part of why so many people were moved to be part of the Central American Solidarity Movement, was due to the fact that priests, nuns and other religious workers were now being targeted by death squad governments in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Not that people who relied on the national news sources were privy to this information in the 1980s. In fact, Noam Chomsky & Edward Herman, in their masterful book, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, provide a powerful news comparison to make this point about what the New York Times, CBS, Time & Newsweek were reporting on.
Herman and Chomsky did an 18 month study of these news sources and compared the amount of coverage that all of the 72 religious workers who were killed in Central America received, compared to the amount of coverage that one Polish Priest who was killed also received. In each of the four major national news sources, the Polish priest’s death received more news coverage than all 72 religious workers killed in Central American combined. This study demonstrated the disparity of US media coverage between violence that was happening in a Communist country, compared to the violence happen in US client states.
However, despite the fact that major US news outlets were not providing comprehensive news coverage about US-financed state terrorism in Central America, there were hundreds of thousands of religious groups, labor organizations and other sectors of civil society in the US that became engaged in the Central American Solidarity Movement. Also, as Noam Chomsky has pointed out, this was the first time that large numbers of Americans actually went to Central America, not as missionaries, but as participants in acts of solidarity with the people who were being targeted.
Of course, most people did not go to Central America directly, but their religious communities became sanctuaries, hosted speaking tours of Central Americans who were educating people about US policy, providing material and financial aid, organized marches, did collective fasting and even got their local governments to make Central American communities a Sister City. In fact, in 1984, a national group called the Pledge of Resistance, even got thousands of people to commit to doing civil disobedience if the US if the US escalated the wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua. This meant doing Direct Action at government offices, US military bases and private weapons contractors that were profiting from those wars, as can be seen in this map.
And there was the image and message of Archbishop Oscar Romero right in the middle of it this. Romero was an inspiration to the movement in so many ways.
Romero then began to challenge the power structure in El Salvador, mostly through his Sunday sermons and his weekly radio broadcast. Romero understood all to well that the poverty and violence that people endured was because of the unjust economic power that the country’s wealthy possessed.
Romero also understood that the political violence that was terrorizing the country’s poor and working class people was a direct result of US military aid to El Salvador. Five weeks before Romero was assassinated he wrote a letter to then US President Jimmy Carter. Part of that letter states:
For this reason, given that as a Salvadoran and archbishop of the archdiocese of San Salvador, I have an obligation to see that faith and justice reign in my country, I ask you, if you truly want to defend human rights:
To forbid that military aid be given to the Salvadoran government;
To guarantee that your government will not intervene directly or indirectly, with military, economic, diplomatic, or other pressures, in determining the destiny of the Salvadoran people;
Noam Chomsky writes in the book Manufacturing Consent, that after Romero sent the letter to Carter, the Carter administration put pressure on the Vatican to try and curb the activities of the archbishop. Five weeks after Romero sent the letter to Carter, he was assassinated.
Romero also understood that many of the foot soldiers in the Salvadoran military were poor people who had been forced into the army. The day before Romero was assassinated he made a special appeal to the soldiers in El Salvador to not kill their fellow Salvadorans. Romero ended his sermon with these words:
It was precisely because Romero was willing to die for the people of El Salvador, that so many people were inspired to be part of the Central American Solidarity Movement.
I share these thoughts on the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero, not out of pious reasons, but to say that his example impacted millions around the world and that when we engage in radical, transformative acts of collective liberation, who knows how far reaching those acts will be.
Why does the GRPD want to use drones?
Since last year, the Grand Rapids Police Department has been saying that they wanted to include the use of drones into their department.
MLive ran an article in late December discussing this issue, an article that included the use of a video about drones from another police department. In that same MLive story, it was stated that the GRPD would be hosting public meetings in the Spring of 2020 to talk about the use of drones and to give the public a chance to offer feedback.
In fact, there were meetings scheduled about the GRPD and drones for last week, but they were cancelled because of the COVID 19 outbreak. Here is the text from one of those scheduled meetings:
The Grand Rapids Police Department (GRPD) and Grand Rapids Fire Department (GRFD) are inviting the community to learn more about the proposed use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) in their public safety efforts.
The presentations will include information about the role of drones in public safety, how they can be used as first responders and how the departments would ensure privacy and individual liberties for community members. Attendees also will have the opportunity to ask questions and offer feedback on the proposed program.
It is not surprising at all that the GRPD would present the use of drones within a “public safety” framework. As someone who has been part of the immigrant justice movement in recent years, the constant police harassment, intimidation and surveillance is always presented as, “we are here to keep you safe.” If drones are not really about public safety, then why are police departments and the GRPD in particular, interested in their use?
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has some good information about the capabilities of drones and why police departments are using them.
According to EFF, drones are:
Drones are unmanned aerial vehicles that can be equipped with high definition, live-feed video cameras, thermal infrared video cameras, heat sensors, and radar—all of which allow for sophisticated and persistent surveillance. Drones can record video or still images in daylight or infrared. They can also be equipped with other capabilities, such as cell-phone interception technology, as well as backend software tools like license plate readers, face recognition, and GPS trackers. There have been proposals for law enforcement to attach lethal and non-lethal weapons to drones.
EFF also states that between 2009 and 2017, there has been a substantial increase in local police and sheriff departments using drones, with nearly 350 departments incorporating them into use during that 8 year period. “Law enforcement agencies use drones for mass surveillance, crime investigation, search and rescue operations, locating stolen goods, and surveying land and infrastructure.”
Most states, including Michigan, do not require search warrants before using drones for search or surveillance, even if people have not been accused of a crime. Drones can be use as surveillance and to collect data on people, even when they are involved in constitutionally-protected activities.
So what can the residents of Grand Rapids do about the GRPD’s desire to use drones? First, whenever the public meetings are rescheduled, we should turn out in big numbers to say no to mass surveillance. If that doesn’t stop the GRPD in their desire to use drones, then we can work with groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundations, which encourages people to file public records requests with their own police agencies.
Like all technology, it can be used for good or it can be used as another tool for systems of power and oppression. We cannot allow the GRPD to use drones. Drones will definitely be used as a tool of mass surveillance and as a weapons against social movements that are challenging systems of power and oppression.
Detention Watch Network creates Toolkit to Support Local Demands for Mass Release of People in ICE Custody
The Chicago-based grassroots organization Detention Watch Network has created an excellent toolkit for organizers who are doing Abolish ICE work in their community.
The toolkit is entitled, Toolkit to Support Local Demands for Mass Release of People in ICE Custody.
The Introduction to this Toolkit provides a clear explanation for why the toolkit was created:
In response to the growing public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the United States government’s inadequate response, we have developed this working toolkit to help guide and support the work of organizations and individuals looking to demand the release of people in ICE custody. Organizations and individuals should assess their capacity and determine what strategies and targets fit best with the resources they have available and the number of people involved. This is by no means an exhaustive list of options and existing tools, its an attempt to centralize what has already been created and make it accessible to different local and regional contexts.
The toolkit includes:
- Strategies for federal, state, regional and local organizing work
- Templates & Resources for Lawyers
- Communication Resources
- Media Coverage and Resources to Support Your Demands
- Tracking Outbreaks in your Area
- Calls to Action from Organizations fighting Mass Incarceration
- Coordinated your Community to Welcome People being Released
- Existing Petitions/Calls to Action by State
- National Petitions
The resources and strategies included in this toolkit are very clear, practical, plus they push the sense of urgency that people in detention centers, jails or prisons, whether they are undocumented immigrants or victims of mass incarceration, should be released immediately because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Toolkit also is available in Spanish at this link.
Neo-Liberal Capitalist project Grand Action makes a comeback
While we are all faced with an uncertain future with Covid – 19, we also have to pay attention to what systems of power are up to. Scholar/activist Naomi Klein calls these moments Disaster Capitalism, where governments use a disaster to push further austerity measures.
GRIID hopes to spend time looking at how local systems of power might also try to take advantage of the current crisis to further their own agendas.
Grand Action 2.0
Despite their announcement a few years ago to shut down, Grand Action recently announced that they are coming back.
The business press reported on this announcement, with the headline, Grand Action reboots to tackle new transformational projects in GR. I’m not sure how “transformational” the work of Grand Action can be, unless by transformational they mean it will transform more public money to fund private projects.
The previous version of Grand Action was led by David Frey, John Canepa and and Dick DeVos. DeVos is the only holdover with Grand Action, but he will be joined by Carol Van Andel and Tom Welch. Carol is the wife of David Van Andel, the current CEO of the Van Andel Institute. Tom Welch is the regional president of Fifth Third Bank.
The reporter from MiBiz, which ran a short article on Grand Action’s return, only ran a brief intro and then asked several questions, which we deconstruct below.
DeVos Family Electoral Contributions: Financing far right politics and political sycophants
The electoral process is a highly compromised process, with issues around voter fraud, gerrymandering and the power that the Democratic and Republican parties have when it comes to allowing other political parties from forming.
However, possibly the most problematic aspect of the current electoral process is how members of the capitalist class can dictate what happens via campaign contributions. In West Michigan, one need look no further than the DeVos family, to see how wealth can infect the electoral process.
According to data collected by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, the DeVos family has contributed more money to electoral politics in Michigan over the past several decades than any other family.
However, the DeVos family is also committed to using their vast wealth to influence electoral outcomes across the US, specifically in federal races. According to the Center for Responsible Politics, which tracks political contributions by state, by city and by zip code, the DeVos family dominates campaign contributions for the current electoral cycle. Based on the latest FEC filings, you can see how much the DeVos family has contributed so far to national elections for the 2020 election cycle.
With just these 10 contributions by the DeVos family, they have contributed $1,850,000. That is an incredible amount of money, considering this was only in the top 10 listings for 2019.
Some people might be familiar with the organizations listed as recipients of the DeVos money, but these are not necessarily household names, like America First Action, the Senate Leadership Fund, the Congressional Leadership Fund and Better Future Michigan Fund.
The Better Future Michigan Fund is primarily a fund that has gone to support Republic Senatorial candidate John James, or more specifically to attack his opponent Senator Gary Peters. However, the website and the Facebook page also seek to discredit proposals like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal.
America First Action is a PAC that also endorses a GOP platform and attacks Democratic candidates. Their mission statement is rather instructive:
For eight long years, America was held hostage by an administration where our hopes, dreams and values were sold, piece by piece. Winning became a bad word and apologies, the norm. Our jobs went overseas, our products made by foreign companies. We no longer were a first place America.
The statement is very misleading, since jobs going overseas has happened under both Republican and Democratic administrations, as well as a GOP or Democratic controlled Congress.
The Congressional Leadership Fund and the Senate Leadership Fund are both designed to gain Republican control of the House and the Senate. In addition, the candidates and the platforms that they promote are platforms that favor the Capitalist class, disproportionately hurt black and brown communities, to not support expanding worker protections or workplace democracy, do not support the LGBTQ community, are anti-environmental and do not support policies like Medicaid for All.
Since the DeVos family are major contributors to these organizations, they also support the candidates and the policies they put forth, policies that are far right and promote white supremacist, anti-labor and anti-environmental values. Remember this the next time you look fondly on Start Garden, AmplifyGR, Artprize or any of the other DeVos funded projects. The DeVos family is Michigan’s #1 Robber Baron family that should be vilified.
My Letter to the GR City Commission in support of a Driver’s Licenses for All Resolution
Today, the Grand Rapids City Commission will be voting on a “resolution urging the Michigan Legislature to amend state law to allow qualified undocumented immigrants to obtain a driver’s license. If you support Driver’s Licenses for All, please send a letter to the Grand Rapids City Clerk (cityclerk@grcity.us) before 5pm today (Tuesday, March 17) and include as your E-mail heading “Committee of the Whole item 3.”
Grand Rapids City Commissioners and Mayor Bliss
For the past three years I have been working with Movimiento Cosecha GR and GR Rapid Response to ICE on immigrant justice issues. A great deal of this work has been to resist the very real harm being done to the undocumented/under-documented community, harm in the form of arrest, detention and often deportation.
In addition, most of the ICE arrests have targeted the primary income earners within immigrant families, thus leaving these families faced with an extremely insecure economic future. Add to this reality is the fact that having a family member arrested, detained or deported by ICE, also causes significant trauma, especially for children. The effects of the ICE-induced trauma on immigrant families is something that many of us have seen directly, but one of the things we know about trauma is that it will continue to impact these families for years to come.
Another major aspect of the work of Movimiento Cosecha GR and GR Rapid Response to ICE, is to center the lived experience of the undocumented/under-documented community. This is exactly why Movimiento Cosecha GR is an immigrant-led movement, which has been hearing for at least the last 2 years that getting driver’s licenses for undocumented/under-documented immigrants has been the number one priority.
We also know that one of the main ways that undocumented/under-documented immigrants end up in ICE custody is because they have been stopped by local law enforcement for something like a faulty tail light. Once members of the undocumented/under-documented community are stopped by local cops, they either ended up in the Kent County Jail or get a citation to appear in court. In both cases, ICE is notified and undocumented/under-documented immigrants are then being detained by ICE.
Therefore, if the City of Grand Rapids is committed to supporting the undocumented/under-documented community and reducing the amount of ICE violence, then it is urgent that the City adopt a resolution in support of Driver’s Licenses for All.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 