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Study Concludes USA is an Oligarchy

posted by LaminatorX on Thursday April 17 2014, @10:26AM   Printer-friendly
from the Also:-Sky-is-Blue dept.

Hairyfeet writes:

A study by Princeton and Northwestern universities shows that a small group of elite have control over the general population and the government only supports the rich and powerful while the masses have no say whatsoever. The 42 page report concludes "we believe that if policymaking is dominated by powerful business organizations and a small number of affluent Americans, then America's claims to being a democratic society are seriously threatened."

 
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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Thexalon on Thursday April 17 2014, @03:52PM

    by Thexalon (636) on Thursday April 17 2014, @03:52PM (#32713)

    could there be concerted grassroots efforts made to get "not-lawyers" into public office at the Federal level?

    Out of 535 current Congresscritters, 211 are lawyers, and are outnumbered by the 214 businesspeople. The third-largest contingent is educators (teachers, professors, coaches, etc). The popular image of Congress being entirely filled with lawyers is actually incorrect: there are certainly more lawyers than the general population, but that's mostly at the expense of professions like plumbing and bricklaying.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 17 2014, @07:29PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 17 2014, @07:29PM (#32804)

    at the expense of professions like plumbing and bricklaying

    People who run for office tend to be financially successful and have spare time to dedicate to a political campaign.
    Sadly, Joe Average competing successfully is an anomaly.

    Something that hasn't been mentioned yet is that the Founding Fathers also stacked the deck from the very beginning.
    To vote, you had to be white, male, over 21, and own property (in most places, 50 acres).
    Additionally, senators were *appointed*.
    If you want to see a time when Egalitarianism made serious strides, it was at times when the incomes of the extremely wealthy were taxed at a marginal rate of over 50 percent. [firedoglake.com]

    So, how do the rich get away with it?
    "Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves, not as an exploited proletariat, but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires." --John Steinbeck

    -- gewg_