“The choice facing the nation this November is much older and deeper than Trump. A determined minority has been trying to shape the foundations of American governance for their own benefit since the inception of the republic. ... In 2024, the country is once again immersed in a pivotal battle over whom the political system should serve and represent.”
I think that Biden has an even bigger problem than the fact that he keeps giving taxpayer-funded weapons to Israel to kill Palestinian kids: it's the recognition by many people that the reason for doing so is to appease the #oligarchy actually in charge of our country. That #billionaires , not city leadership, are directing police to suppress free speech. That's not #democracy. #Gaza
@greendesignek
I gasped when I got to: "Some members also offered to pay for private investigators to assist New York police in handling the protests, the chat log shows — an offer a member of the group reported in the chat that Adams accepted."
Ps. Don't take it from me: everything I learned about how we're living in an oligarchy - and the dangerous path we're on towards the end of the American experiment - I learned by reading Peter Turchin's book "End Times". Fascinating and scary stuff.
@paulthenerd The very reason I left what was then XFM at the time. This company is solely responsible for the death of local radio and there was some really creepy secret handshake stuff going between them and Ofcom. It wasnt until people took notice they had to look like they were doing something so sold a few stations and kept the names but nothing ever happened and that was now 15 years ago.
Talking of Chameleons, I am always impressed by the way Apple have managed to maintain much of their ‘outside, liberal’ image - even when they dominate mobile markets. Jobs was a shite, indifferent to others in his company, family and community. The organisation maintains that process - with a ‘friendly face’.
I do use their hardware/software but am under no illusions about the company.
For centuries, oligarchs were viewed as empowered by wealth, an idea muddled by elite theory early in the twentieth century. The common thread for oligarchs across history is that wealth defines them, empowers them and inherently exposes them to threats. The existential motive of all oligarchs is wealth defense.
Turns out not a lot has changed in real economics for about, oh, 3000 years or so since ancient Sumer and Babylon. Debt destroys the economy.
The oligarchy takes over, and the only real way to un-entrench them is to declare a Jubilee. Naturally, the oligarchy itself is never going to propose this. It has to come from a ruler that is willing to take on the oligarchy.
Good luck with that today. They ARE the oligarchy.
We must remove the wealthy from controlling elections, appointing judges & enacting legislation that benefits themselves at everyone else's expense. Literally.
"Every economy...has a market. But the economists say, no, the only market is where there’s no govt intervention, no govt oversight of weights and measures, no govt prevention of monopoly, no govt concern for the common idea. Well, this is a rightwing philosophy and quite frankly, it’s neofascist - that’s called neoliberalism today..."
Is America a Democracy or an Oligarchy? Edited by Eamon Doyle
The viewpoints in this volume examine the development of the country from political, social, and economic perspectives to determine whether the country can still be considered a democracy.