Thom Hartmann echoes what I’ve been writing, the 2010 Citizens United decision of the conservative Supreme Court has destroyed what was left of our democracy. Hartmann is more generous in saying we are a just a few years from being a total oligarchy (“government by the few”). I think we are already there, although I think the term “plutocracy” (“government by the wealthy”) is a more precise and accurate description of how we are governed.
According to Hartmann, in his op-ed today, “Democracy Died First in Wisconsin – Long Live the Oligarchs”:
A few of America’s most notorious oligarchs – including the Koch and the DeVos (Amway fortune) billionaires – as well as untraceable millions from donors who could as easily be Chinese government-run corporations as giant “American” companies who do most of their business and keep most of their profits outside the US – apparently played big in this election. I say “apparently” because the Supreme Court has ruled that we no longer have the right to know who is really funding our election commercials, or even our candidates themselves.
The enormous amount of money that wealthy corporate interests can pour into American elections gives them such an enormous advantage in our broken system of government that “of the people, by the people and for the people” will only be found in our history books.
If we want our democracy back, we will have to figure out a way to defuse the role of money in our elections. I don’t see it happening anytime soon.
