3 ms·
Major Study Finds The US Is An Oligarchy http://www.businessinsider.com/major-study-finds-that-the-us-is-an-oligarchy-2014-4 http://www.businessinsider.com/maj
by dv_dt 9y ago
Major Study Finds The US Is An Oligarchy
http://www.businessinsider.com/major-study-finds-that-the-us-is-an-oligarchy-2014-4 http://www.businessinsider.com/major-study-finds-that-the-us...
> 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."
- brucephillips 9y agoSure, so we can say that people vote against their interests. We can't say that the U.S. is a dictatorship. Let's be precise with our terms, rather than contributing to political polarization and blustering.
- dv_dt 9y agoSystematically studying a range of issues supported by voters and comparing them against actual congressional votes is not blustering. It's rather methodical and data driven.
- brucephillips 9y agoThe study isn't blustering. Claiming that America "is getting closer to a communist dictatorship" is.
- dv_dt 9y agoCommunist dictatorships don't have the characteristic power structure of a close circle of oligarchs that overall decide policy?
- brucephillips 9y ago...who aren't chosen by the people. That's the defining characteristic.