In case you missed it:
Study: US is an
oligarchy, not a democracyBy Jasper
McChesney
December 19, 2019 "Information
Clearing House" -
(First published, April 14, 2014) - So you live in an
oligarchy.
A word
usually associated with deranged Russian oil tycoons is
suddenly front and center in many American’s minds
thanks to a new study by researchers at Princeton and
Northwestern. The
analysis of 1,779
recent policy outcomes found that “economic elites and
organized groups representing business interests have
substantial independent impacts on U.S. government
policy,” while average citizens “have little or no
independent influence.”
In other words, the U.S. is an oligarchy: a system of
government where a small number of elites rule. Everyone
else? Not so much.
“Well I could have told
you that”
This might seem obvious to some readers. After all,
everyone knows economic elites run the show in
the United States, right?
As it turns out, there are surprisingly few studies
out there on this topic. That’s what makes this study so
important. If we want to have an informed debate about
issues of money and influence, those things “everyone
knows” have to be backed up with real data. Let’s look
behind the headline to see what the research really
says.
