A new scientific study from Princeton researchers Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page
has finally put some science behind the recently popular argument that the
United States isn't a democracy any more. And they've found that in fact,
America is basically an oligarchy.
An oligarchy is a system where power is
effectively wielded by a small number of individuals defined by their status
called oligarchs. Members of the oligarchy are the rich, the well connected and
the politically powerful, as well as particularly well placed individuals in
institutions like banking and finance or the military.
The
researchers compiled data from roughly 1,800 different policy initiatives in
the years between 1981 and 2002. Then, they compared those policy changes with
the expressed opinion of the United States public. Gilens and Page found that government
policies followed the directives of major lobbying groups and business groups
while disregarding the expressed opinion of the American public. In case you
missed it, their data says that your opinion and what you think does not matter.
Big
corporations, the ultra-wealthy and special interests with a lot of money and
power essentially make all of the decisions. You may be alarmed, but this
problem has been steadily escalating for four decades. Economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez constructed income statistics based on IRS data that go back to 1913. The gap between the
ultra-wealthy and the rest of us is much bigger than you would think. The top
1% of earners had captured 95% of all income gains since the Great Recession
ended. The other 99% saw a net 12% drop to their income. So not only is
oligarchy making the rich richer, it's driving policy that's made everyone else
poorer.
Case in
point, That might explain why mandatory background checks on gun sales
supported by 83% to 91% of Americans aren't in place, or why Congress has taken
no action on greenhouse gas emissions even when such legislation is supported
by the vast majority of citizens.
"Perhaps
economic elites and interest group leaders enjoy greater policy expertise than
the average citizen does," Gilens and Page write. "Perhaps they know
better which policies will benefit everyone, and perhaps they seek the common
good, rather than selfish ends, when deciding which policies to support.
"But we tend to doubt it."
Source: Princeton Concludes What Kind of Government America Really Has, and It's Not a Democracy, Tom Mc Kay
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