The closest thing we have to democracy is our ability to begin democracy by fighting against first-past-the-post voting systems
this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2025
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it's very close to turning into one.
It's not quite there, but trump is definitely not one to shy away from it, so it mostly depends on who he appoints and interacts with. And how corrupt he will be.
No, we will never be an oligarchy. A plutocracy, yes, but I think money is the deciding factor here.
A Plutocracy is merely an Oligarchy by virtue of wealth. It's not as if you or I could ever earn enough money legitimately to move up to the ruling class. That makes it functionality indistinguishable from an Oligarchy that is hand picked by arbitrary factors.
Pretty sure it crossed that line decades ago.
Late 19th century. There was some pushback, some anti-trust laws with teeth, and then decades of bloody union battles to secure rights workers and their elected officials have thrown away for 50 years.
The concentration of wealth and influence of 10-16 people trumps that of hundreds of millions and is as bad or worse than it was during the robber baron era.
Political representatives are bought and paid for which means the poor have no voice against the wealthy.
We have a justice system that is incapable of prosecuting the wealthy and powerful, when it isn't being stocked by ideologues.
Meritocracy is dead; Birth has much greater correlation to wealth and power.
Media is fully captured by the wealthy; they own the vast majority of media consumed: TV, film, news, social junk.
Nice country you got here.
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I'd say around the beginning of the 1900s is when we truly lost the plot. While we, the workers, were given a few breadcrumbs over the years to appease us, the Owner class was strip mining the wealth at every level imaginable, there's a reason people like Rockefeller and Carnegie were richer than heaven at this time in history.
I say this in nearly complete seriousness:
Always has been
🌎🧑🚀🔫🧑🚀
It has been an oligarchy for a long time. This has been studied and proven.
proven
Please explain. I don't disagree with the conclusion, but this supporting statement doesn't ring true to me.
By demonstrating the facts which make the system meet the definition. Look it up there's plenty of articles citing studies. Someone else linked a major one here.
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There was a study from Princeton showing that no major policy has aligned with public opinion since the civil rights era.
There is no measurable way that our government has reflected the will of the majority in over 50 years.
Someone also did the other side where they tied policy- and law-making to benefiting the ultra rich. I do not recall source so I can’t provide that, but I did read the paper at one time a few years ago. It was legit.
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Well in 2015 Jimmy Carter said that the United States is "just an oligarchy, with unlimited political bribery being the essence of getting the nominations for president or to elect the president. And the same thing applies to governors and U.S. senators and congress members. "
That same year The Economist's Democracy Index downgraded the United States to a "flawed democracy" and it has continued to trend downwards since then.
If you're looking for something more recent, Bernie Sanders is saying the same thing: "We are moving rapidly into an oligarchic form of society. Never before in American history have so few billionaires, so few people, have so much wealth and so much power".
So between the massive (and growing) income inequality in the country, and rulings like Citizen's United it's hard not to believe it's not at least on the trajectory towards an oligarchy. Now throw in the blatantly corrupt picks of the Trump administration, where cabinet positions are favors to rich friends, or being given to billionaires with a direct interest in killing the government agency they are running - not to mention all the things he's routinely done / will do to enrich himself / friends with tax payer dollars and it certainly seems like an oligarchy to me.
And just on a personal vibes level, living here, it feels like legislation to help normal people or solve normal people's problems is almost non-existent. And when it does happen, it also conveniently throws a ton of money at the rich at the same time (see recent tax cuts, pandemic relief funds, etc.). Even something like the Affordable Care Act, which did a ton of net good things for this country, enriched a whole lot of private healthcare companies along the way rather than creating an actual public option with negotiated prices to keep government costs down.
Turned? Have you ever heard of the Rockefeller and Morgan families?
Koch brothers...
the US is run by billionaires and corporations.
you can live in peace as long as you don't inconvenience them too much, and keep paying them
Stop dancing to their tune and you quickly discover how much freedom you really got
The only solution is to quit being ~~boomer~~ poor lol
Edit: Interesting auto correct
Always has been. They're simply not hiding it any more.
The US has been an oligarchy for some time. Act accordingly.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/princeton-experts-say-us-no-longer-democracy
Tbh I think the most recent election and its implications makes the facts abundantly clear.
I would say corporatocracy. Ever since Citizens United, corporations have been making more and more policy and political decisions, placing in power who they believe will advance their agendas of unlimited and never ending profit.
Corporations are fiction of law.
Owners are a few very wealthy individuals who abuse this fiction and the state against the pedon class.
It is a class war and always has been.
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I think it’s worse. I think we have noble houses fighting for the throne again. The Bush family, the Clinton family, they wanted Michelle Obama.. In what sane democracy does the family member or wife of the last elected leader make sense as being the best option? Forget oligarchy, we have a straight up monarchy brewing with a nice democratic paint job.
The Bush family, the Clinton family, they wanted Michelle Obama
That's how an oligarchy works though. A few powerful people, usually dynastic families, decide how the country should be run. You're giving an example of oligarchs picking an oligarch. How is that evidence of monarchy rather than oligarchy?
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The rich were behind the mutiny in the first place, so, always has been
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citizens united is where I would draw the line and no I don't think we are an oligarchy but a plutocracy. Honestly Im not even sure if that is the right word because the money itself has the effect and the various wealthy people spending it. I don't think they even really understand what they are doing. So its more like being ruled by money rather than the wealthy per se and honestly the ones calling the shots are the financial entities so corporations. Part of it may just be their relative power and active global decision making bend. News articles talk about musk possibly being the first trillionaire but mean while corps have based a trillion as early as 2008 and now many multi trillion dollar companies are around and the top add up to tens of trillions. So corptocracy. We had enough of that to begin with but now its out of control. Someone recently posted the international agreement that allows corps to sue countries and that finished up in the 90's so it not only started before but is also not just a us thing.
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Short answer: Yes.
Long answer: Oh, HELL yes.
Oil company with an army...