Have Oligarchs Finally Seized Major Control Of Our Government?
By Thom Hartmann A...
Donald Trump's tax-cut isn't just a hand-out to the rich - it's also proof that the predatory billionaire oligarchs have finally seized major control of our government.
A study out of Princeton released last year concluded that the U.S. was an oligarchy, finding that:
"A proposed policy change with low support among economically elite Americans (one-out-of-five in favour) is adopted only about 18% of the time while a proposed change with high support (four-out-of-five in favour) is adopted about 45% of the time."
If you want more proof that the oligarchs have hijacked our democracy -- look no further than Donald Trump's tax plan.
At its core, Donald Trump's tax reform plan is just another tax cut for the rich and big corporations.
This obviously makes it popular on Wall Street and with the Chamber of Commerce - but it's way out of out touch with the kind of tax reform everyday Americans want to see.
According to a recent Gallup Poll - 63 percent of Americans think rich people actually pay "too little in taxes".
Sixty-seven percent of Americans also say that big corporations pay too little in taxes.
So, if that Gallup poll is any indication, Americans actually want to see taxes raised on the rich/corporations.
But what they get instead is tax cuts for the rich/corporations.
Doesn't that speak to how fundamentally broken our democracy is?
Comments
#2
We need to stop talking about "our democracy" as if the US Constitution created the United States of America as a "democracy". The word "democracy" does not appear in the US Constitution - the USA is a "Constitutional Republic" - thus all actions being taken fall under the statutes derived from the US Constitution as originally formed. Lets call it what it is: a "Pseudo Democracy" and lets move to create a "true" democracy for all - preferably in the form of a Democratic Socialist governing body - where every voter's "votes" actually count, and not just a limited state by state vote count based on a minority of "electoral college" votes - as determied by each state as to how those electors are chosen. That's how we got into the mess of the billionaire oligarchs finally seizeing major control of our government.
#3
Please consider that the type of ruler is less important than they being beneficent.
We currently have murderous and cruel totalitarians in charge is a better description and this is a long-term heritage of an ethos, a generalized sociopathic knitting of rationalizations to gain land and resources.
This began with contact in the Americas from the use of diseased blankets as a biological weapon on a mass scale that ended land conversion to agriculture with few Europeans thus a reforestation happened that ended by dropping CO2 about 12-ppm in 50-75 years, it had to be 50-70 million Indigenous people at the time killed.
There's no way to live that down without admitting what today is a copy of the ethos that allowed that genocide to occur.
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2009/january7/manvleaf-010709.html
#4
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The Oilybarfs have been systematically seizing our government bit by bit, since the mid '60's. Now it's just a matter of dissolving our last strongholds. Easy work for the current (Expletive Deleted) group in offfice. Now it only a matter of putting on the last touches.
#5
https://englishcode.wordpress.com/2017/07/07/trump-russia/
VOTING OUT THE ENTIRE GOP in 2018 is the ONE way out of this for us. We may not have been sure of that in 2016, but we should know that by now.
#6
The last time it was this bad we had a revolution, with live firearms, ropes, and flowing blood!
#7
Thom, Thom ... Thom! Did you really even need to ask?
What would be more interesting is trying to nail down precisely WHEN "they" took over. I say "they" started when "they" had JFK shot and pretty much closed the case when "they" had the Supremes select Shrub/Cheney to run things. Drumpf is just "their" latest flourish.
#8
I really hate to be repetitive here but, Howard was correct with the initial comment: YES!
We (99 %r's) are "done" unless "they" wake up, and there are stirrings of that but my "Real God"? Really?. I do believe they have brainwashed and dumbed down for long enough that they have at least 2 generations of the trikle down "Bull S...." pickup truck/Limbaugh listnin' economist with them. Now, interject the racisism? I stocked up (randolphgarriso)..... I hope it won't happen but I saw it coming and started preparing Nov. last year just after finishing crying at 2:00 AM at results and telling my wife what was going to happen. So far; I have been correct.
#9
ABSOLUTELY! BROKEN! But what can you expect when the whole thing was made of plastic to begin with. Slave owners talking about all men being free. The filthy rich becoming friends with government representatives just so they can become filthier. This country was set up for business by businessmen. Just about anything is okay as long as it makes you money. If Franklin had his way, our money would have "Mind your business" on it instead of "In GOD we trust". Even our revolution was about money. That's all this country has ever been about. As long as a person or corporation that acts as one, has billions of dollars, there will be someone who swore to uphold the constitution, that will break that vow to get some of that billion. When enough oath breakers exist, like they do now, their greed becomes more noticeable and, in this case with these creepiest of creeps, they do it 'in your face', you know, New York Style. Every time one of them gets noticed, it's like they say "So????" and then just go on. So, here they are, openly taking from us and giving it to them without an excuse or solid reason. They get richer and we get trickled on again because they can do it and get away with it. Well, I'm getting trickled off at these, uh, , , oh, I don't know. What would you call something that trickles?
#10
Great DUDE!
#11
Perhaps one that was trikled with a "Golden Shower" video from Russia?
#12
wow, people...really? is this a trick question?
i'll tell you what...instead of my usual blurbs...just read these books if you really want to understand where you're living....
start with howard zinn's, 'a people's history of the US'. even matt damon's character recommended it in 'good will hunting'....
after that it should be fairly easy to believe that you never really DID have a democracy...and since it's become clearer and clearer over the last few decades, and people are still saying the same things and asking the same questions, i'm going to assume that you're either in denial, or...damaged in a way that just doesn't process the obvious...your 'govt' is a group of business reps. they don't really care about you, the 'little people'...they've SAID so in the intercepted notes. you know...that OTHER rep that you all would have HAPpily elected 'instead of' 'this guy'. i loved that those messages were intercepted. especially the one that spoke of having 'two agendas'. the real one... and the one for you. 'the little people'.
and, essentially, you're prisoners. taxed for things that you don't want to support...and 'candidates' that would like you to believe they're a) different b) going to improve your lives in some significant way/s c) concerned with your well being.
meanwhile, since WWII they've invaded at least 40 countries. for profit and 'positioning'...slowly eating up the planet in the process...
hey. got not kids. in my last years. not much of a concern to me if you listen or not... but i was a nurse for years and years...and i guess i just can't help trying to care for people...it's different than caring aBOUT people. shit...we're taking i don't know HOW many species over the edge with us...i'm sorry. i'm just not THAT speciocentric...
so...good luck with this continued pretense of 'democracy'. and 'elections'. be ok with someone supposedly 'ruling' the country who lost by(i wish vonnegut was still alive... he woulda LOVED this)...three MILLION votes. and you accept whatever bullshit they feed you on that, right?
meanwhile...when that sort of ridiculousness(a bad call) happens at a sporting event, people go nuts...
no. trust me. that you've let this go on as long as you have. with all of it in your faces? you were not well for a looooong time.
stepping over/ignoring homeless humans? who that is integrated would accept that? how many children went to bed hungry in that country last nite...? you ARE a third world country. except, of course, for your rulers...the industrialists. read up. look around. vietnam, iraq, afghanistan, syria, chile...the list goes on and on...millions of innocent dead. but i guess if you can ignore the rest, that THIS part is easy, right? good luck with all that...
now that i got this out of my system, you can go ahead and delete it like you did my last post. something like this one...yeah. you people want to know the truth...yes, you're the great pretenders...
#13
The answer to Thom's question is that poignant "Yes" in post #1.
Even a perfunctory reading of history makes clear that constitutionally limited, representative, democratic republics such as ours are extreme rarities. Society has been caught in the grips of militaristic oligarchs from the beginning of civilization. It is no different today, which is becoming less and less subtle as more and more wealth is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands.
Randolph is 100% right! The only counterattack (reading between his lines) that has ever changed the dynamic of greed and power is all-out revolution by a citizenry finally fed up enough to storm the castle and risk death for the sake of their children's future.
Nowadays, however, with all the fierce weapons of death at the beck and call of the "king," serious revolution must be absolutely physically peaceful. Otherwise, it would be squashed like a bug before it even reached the outer ramparts.
Anyway, real revolution -- the most effective and lasting -- starts in the mind. Authoritarians are well aware of that danger, to them, the most frightening of all. Thus, ubiquitous propaganda, drilled into the populace 24/7 without let up across every possible media outlet, is the world we now live in.
Resist!
#14
Wow. How correct. I have said pretty much the same to family and close friends but; to no avail. God; Guns & Flag..... It is amazing how the general citizens don't know the blood that's on our hands. Domino theory BS! Eisenhour warned and they killed Kennedy. Been downhill ever since.
#15
Yes
#16
I hadn't seen the last comment before posting. What about MAD? Mutual Assured Destruction? That's what I grew up with. Duck & cover. The rich pretty much all have bunkers so; (and their dumbass pawns ((House/Senate)) have temporary options. But; when it comes down to survival I, wonder if the Kochs or any others would open the vault for McConnell/Ryan etc. with water really running out?
#17
FINALLY? I thought oligarchs seized control over 200 years ago.
#18
A thermonuclear war is not survivable for anyone on the planet, except maybe for a few scattered bands of people lucky (or unlucky) enough somehow to miss the main fireworks. Eventually, radiation poisoning will wipe out any stragglers. Life is tenacious as hell, but given the scale of destruction that we're now facing, which is only "three minutes to midnight" away, even if there were a few ultimate survivors, there still probably wouldn't be enough left in the gene pool to reestablish a viable population, let alone civilization -- ergo, extinction.
This is the big red button over which Generalissimo Stupido has his little stink finger hovering.
#19
I obviously have staggered "out of my leauge here", not complaining and; thank you sincerely Deep Space. I thought I knew a good bit about where we are and how we arrived at such as humans and the Generalissimo Estu'pida rings a bell, but, I think it's time to lower blood pressure. Wonderful exchange of information! Good nite,
#20
No, no, not at all, Oldskoold, your comments are always spot on and much appreciated.
Actually, I stupidly mixed up Italian and Spanish. "Generalissimo" is Italian, so "stupido" would make a better (tongue in cheek) phrase. I corrected that right before your last post.
Slán leat. (goodbye in Gaelic, meaning "safety with you")
#21
LOL! Thank you for your understanding. I'm a bit taken aback though; how the heck did (if so), you; know I'm of Irish ancestory? We were the second indentured (to be nice) race in what we call modern history. Perhaps we should take this private at some point. Interesting to say the least. Later, CW.
#22
I didn't know.
My only surviving ancestor from the Great Irish Famine was our paternal great grandfather. His son made it to New Brunswick, hopped a train out west during the logging heydays in the early twentieth century, and married an Irish lass, my grandmother. I've returned to Ireland on vacations to trace down any other branches, sadly to no avail. We're from County Laois.
Oíche mhaith. (Goodnight)
#23
The Taking Of America 1 2 3 By Richard Sprague
Free book at Ratical.org
#24
Alas Deepspace my Fathers Grandfather also came during the Potatoe famine from Dublin. From Langford County in the Heartland. Alas, I am a half breed, My Mother is Swedish. I live in Shame.
It is unbelieveable that all of these Trump supporters do not see how they are being screwed by this administration. Just bend over and take some more. Smile!
#25
Another title that comes to mind, "America: From Freedom To Fascism" by Aaron Russo
Available online. We need to stop looking so shocked about losing our country to the rich and powerful. We need to stop pretending it will all be ok. Trump talks about the murcan people like he is actually one of them, he's not, but us Murcan people are not who he's talking about. It's obvious now it's all about the power elite group. You know the murcan people. Corporate Supremecists. Are people too.
#26
Steven Stills wrote "For What It's Worth" back in '66 & Buffalo Springfield sang it. It's on YouTube. Everyone should hear it again..... it still sounds good but there's a seriousness about it now...........
#27
I guess I meant "Stop Children Whats That Sound" by Buffalo Springfield.
#28
Legend:
That's only three counties away from County Laois; our ancestors were practically neighbors. Sláinte!
The Great Irish Famine produced the biggest single wave of emigrants in history within such a relatively short time frame, which scattered broken souls to the ends of the earth on almost every continent. Notwithstanding the black slave trade, the Holocaust, and the Native American genocide, it was a singular human tragedy of unspeakable horror and cruelty for uncountable millions. Within a seven-year period, one-two million died while one-two million fled, many on "famine ships" that rivaled the conditions in the African slave ships of the 18th century. Tens of thousands died during passage.
Nobody knows the actual count of those who perished on the island or managed to escape, which many historians suspect is much, much higher than official figures, because, like the Nazis, British authorities destroyed most of the records. I believe only seven county and/or "famine house" record books, out of untold hundreds, survived the purge.
The root cause, as always, was greed, power, and bigotry -- deeply entrenched in the British-Protestant psyche during the 19th century, with laissez-faire capitalism taken to its predictable extreme. Southern Ireland (now, the Republic of Ireland) is very rich in agriculture, but most of their meat and produce was shipped to England for profit, while the Irish were left to starve and succumb to disease (literally in the ditches) with nothing but stingy allotments of poor quality grain and other throwaway scraps and morsels lacking adequate protein and vitamins.
Token efforts by the government and volunteer relief agencies to relieve suffering simply did not match the scale of the disaster. The Presbyterians, however, should be commended for their super-human efforts; yet, tragically, even they finally had to throw in the towel.
In fact, many of the key power brokers in the British parliament deliberately failed to intervene with the out-of-control, unaccountable private food industry or with the top-heavy, aristocratic landlord infrastructure of foreign occupation. They maintained that it was God's will to reduce overpopulation on the island. Appallingly but within character, many of the English landlords (not all) were secretly glad to be rid of the Irish vermin on their vast tracts of land, as modern farm machinery negated the need for indentured labor.
The right-wing freaks nowadays who think they're following the righteous path by promoting false religion, the wonders of the "free" market, hands-off government, and the purity of their ethnicity are ignorant fools who have no idea what they're talking about or what they're playing with. Their bankrupt ideologies and corrupt attitudes are nothing new and certainly not enlightened. F*ck them and f*ck their tin god!
#29
Well said. Down and dirty just like it is and has been.
#30
Well said. Down and dirty just like it is and has been.
#31
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW6veTIkH-E
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#32
Yes, they already have. The Government is supposed to be "the people" wishfully thinking - educated people with understanding of many things including basis Civics! Somehow the oligarchs also seemed to have seized control of a lot of the zombie citizens. How mentally stifled are these people are who continue to go along with the shiny flashy object on a lure stories, lie after lie, told by skilled actors over the years?
#33
Thanks for the post and video deepspace ..its important to not repeat the mistakes of the past .Historians like Howard Zinn would have made fine politicians .Heck we might have even have made some progress towards a civil society by now .Historians in general seek the truth .Politics is the art of lying .
#34
We have to look at our Culture as the problem.... "the culture from which we emerge is causing the demise of the culture ". We have to create a new cultural story that helps fast track our evolutionary process . So we can move out of our toddler stage .
I suggest we Awaken The Species .
#35
Throw the base a bone. Then massively cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations. Then increase defense spending and we have another depression. Again they claim that cutting the Inheritance tax is about protecting the family farm. Which is a repeated lie. It protects the fortunes of the .01% that currently control 70% of all of the money in America. It protects the money that they hoard. It is all about greed.
#36
Maybe the birds of prey who usually swoop in and feast are not receiving enough encouragement from their raptor masters.
#37
What's really broken here is We, the People. How many presidents has it been that have blatantly promised us one thing only to deliver another? The fact that Trump isn't being held accountable is proof to the oligarchs that they can lie to us and then do anything they want because no one will object to it. What does it take for this country to get up off its face? I guess it's a case of, "kick me again, darling, it feels so good." Americans are a spineless disgrace. This whole administration should be pulled out of there; we need to get rid of all of these "leaders" and finally get back to having some "representatives".
#38
Power is always given never taken. The people have decided that they would rather have safety,security and survival so they gave their power away .Perhaps they thought the oppressive culture would give them security ,or a better life,so the largest number of those oppressed people looked the other way !! When a critical mass of people decide that their lives are not working as well as they thought or should work they will take the power back which has always been theirs to begin with...they traded it for the three S'SS above .
Revolutions have always happened in the name of freedom ,this is what the Founding Fathers did they placed their lives on the line ,their sacred honor .The British establishment (Monarchy) against such courage those oppressors have really no power.
As soon as those who were oppressed decided to take their power back as their lives became not worth living the very government that was supposed to be all powefull suddenly became weak and silent,unable to do anything about its own dismantling.
THe oppression stops when people who get together stand strong and say "Enough ,no further".Where sufficient will has not been gathered the oppression continues .This was what the Ocuppy movement was all about ...we all should have got behind that.
This is called Original power we all have this we are born in Original Power not Original Sin...this is fallacy.
It is the larger belief system of the humans who are in charge of our planet that is the problem.Beliefs create behaviours .lIFE IS LIVED OUT ON THIS PLANET ACCORDING TO BELIEFS ,The belief system of the human race is based upon a whole series of misunderstandings and fallacies.
When these beliefs change ,the world will change.
#39
Thanks for that, HT. It points to a fundamental paradox of the human mind. The basic fear of insecurity, personally and collectively, produces hollow belief systems far removed from reality, clouding our judgment and natural capacity of empathy and compassion for the suffering of others -- a disconnect that engenders hate and violence against those with different, equally hollow belief systems, creating even more insecurity in an ever-increasing downward spiral of destruction. False religion and phony patriotism that divide one from another are at the top of the list.
This is the world that we woke up to this morning -- a monstrous society that imprisons our minds, exacerbated by so-called "leaders" who take advantage of fear and hate in their never-ending pursuit of concentrated wealth and power. Unless the majority of individuals realize how this suicidal dynamic plays out in their own lives -- and then seriously act to change it -- the spit of time Homo sapiens occupy this rare jewel of a planet, lost in the truly staggering vastness of space, won't end well. How can it?
Life appears to be the ultimate expression of a universe that seeks harmony and balance between all of its awesome forces. Given enough time, after our likely demise, Earth may eventually erase the stain of our existence, so that perhaps another species can evolve the intelligence we obviously lack.
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