madoka
Diamond Member
- Jun 22, 2004
- 4,344
- 712
- 121
There was a class war and the rich won. Democracy is dead.
We don't mean squat to politicians.
http://www.newsweek.com/robert-reich-second-american-civil-war-opinion-958450
In his 2013 novel A Delicate Truth, John le Carré describes the “deep state” as a moneyed élite—“non-governmental insiders from banking, industry, and commerce” who rule in secret.
America already may be close to that sort of deep state. As Princeton professor Martin Gilens and Professor Benjamin Page of Northwestern University found after analyzing 1,799 policy issues that came before Congress, “the preferences of the average American appear to have only a miniscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.”
Instead, Gilens and Page concluded, lawmakers respond to the policy demands of wealthy individuals and moneyed business interests.
Gilens’ and Page’s data come from the period 1981 to 2002, before the Supreme Court opened the floodgates to big money in its “Citizens United” decision. It’s likely to be far worse now.