If working people were a bit more desperate about their economic situations, the wealthy believe, they’d be less likely to organize, protest, or even vote.

What Aristotle Knew About Oligarchy That We Forgot

In this video, we explore Aristotle’s book “Politics,” where he breaks down different types of government, including oligarchy – when the rich call the shots. Aristotle didn’t just theorize; he studied 158 constitutions from Greek city-states and beyond, giving us deep insights into how governments really work.

Robert Reich connects the dots to expose Republicans War on the Poor and Working Families including their opposition to minimum wage, unemployment insurance, food stamps and more.

Study Finds The United States Is An Oligarchy

The US is dominated by a rich and powerful elite. So concludes a recent study by Princeton University.

If you don’t know what Oligarchy means, here’s wiki’s definition;

Oligarchy (from Greek ὀλιγαρχία (oligarkhía); from ὀλίγος (olígos), meaning “few”, and ἄρχω (arkho), meaning “to rule or to command”) is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with a small number of people. These people could be distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, education, corporate, religious or military control. Such states are often controlled by a few prominent families who typically pass their influence from one generation to the next, but inheritance is not a necessary condition for the application of this term.

Proof The US Is An Oligarchy, Not A Democracy

“A study, to appear in the Fall 2014 issue of the academic journal Perspectives on Politics, finds that the U.S. is no democracy, but instead an oligarchy… The authors of this historically important study are Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page, and their article is titled “Testing Theories of American Politics.” The authors clarify that the data available are probably under-representing the actual extent of control of the U.S. by the super-rich”

Throughout history, oligarchies have often been tyrannical (relying on public obedience and/or oppression to exist). Aristotle pioneered the use of the term as a synonym for rule by the rich, for which the exact term is plutocracy. However, oligarchy is not always rule by the wealthy, as oligarchs can simply be a privileged group, and do not have to be connected by either wealth or by bloodlines – as in a monarchy.

Thomas Hartmann explains how Reagan Republicans tuned the United States into a Oligarchy

MSNBC Panel Discusses U.S. Oligarchy (Pt. 1)

MSNBC Panel Discusses U.S. Oligarchy (Pt. 2)

The two professors have conducted exhaustive research to try to present data-driven support for this conclusion. Here’s how they explain it: the wealthy few move policy, while the average American has little power

Eric Zuess, writing in Counterpunch, isn’t surprised by the survey’s results.

American democracy is a sham, no matter how much it’s pumped by the oligarchs who run the country (and who control the nation’s “news” media),” he writes. “The US, in other words, is basically similar to Russia or most other dubious ‘electoral’ ‘democratic’ countries. We weren’t formerly, but we clearly are now.”

Corporate Boot-licker Sean Hannity Whines About The Rich Paying Taxes

Major Study Finds The US Is An Oligarchy

Government serves special interests, not people.

Per the above article: “The U.S. government does not represent the interests of the majority of the country’s citizens, but is instead ruled by those of the rich and powerful, a new study from Princeton and Northwestern universities has concluded.

The report, “Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens” (PDF), used extensive policy data collected between 1981 and 2002 to empirically determine the state of the U.S. political system.

After sifting through nearly 1,800 U.S. policies enacted in that period and comparing them to the expressed preferences of average Americans (50th percentile of income), affluent Americans (90th percentile), and large special interests groups, researchers concluded that the U.S. is dominated by its economic elite.

The peer-reviewed study, which will be taught at these universities in September, says: “The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence.”

Researchers concluded that U.S. government policies rarely align with the preferences of the majority of Americans, but do favour special interests and lobbying organizations: “When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites and/or with organized interests, they generally lose. Moreover, because of the strong status quo bias built into the US political system, even when fairly large majorities of Americans favour policy change, they generally do not get it.”

Republicans must lie to survive: They have no other choice

From Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump, the path to Republican political success is rooted in profound deception

Per the above article; “The GOP exists to serve the interests of the wealthy and big business that comprise the richest 1%. No party, however, can ever win an election with only 1% of the vote. So to win elections, the GOP must necessarily reach beyond its own wealthy core and attempt to convince a large segment of working people in the 99% to vote for Republicans.

Normally, a political party wins elections by offering policies that benefit the voters. These policies attract the voters who then cast their votes for the political party.

But for the Republican Party, this is not an option. A candidate could not possibly campaign on the policies favored by the 1%. Just imagine the stump speech. “Vote for me and I will slash your health care! In fact, I’ll do even better — I’ll fight like mad to completely eliminate your health care!”

“Vote for me and I will get rid of your pensions! This would save corporations a bundle and boost profits to the shareholders! Screw the workers!”

“Vote for me and I promise to ship your jobs overseas under globalization! The exact same labor can be hired in Asia for only pennies! Hurray!”

The Republican Party is left with only one option. It cannot possibly be honest about its true intentions and actual policies. The working class would never vote for them. Instead, the only option is to lie”.

Proof of how Republican’s policies are bad for working class people is how California Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Larry Elder ran on a platform of eliminating the minimum wage.