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Is there anyone walking around that actually believes that rules and laws apply to the elite? Some seem to think that the reason this is excused is because (i
by metalliqaz 5y ago
Is there anyone walking around that actually believes that rules and laws apply to the elite?
Some seem to think that the reason this is excused is because (in the US at least) every poor schmuck seem to think they they will be rich and powerful someday and get to partake. I've never found that very credible, but smarter people than me seem to think so.
- isk517 5y agoDepends on the rules and laws. The system tends to be very good at punishing rich people that swindle money from other rich people.
- taylodl 5y agoIn other words, when the elite are impacted the full force of law will be brought to bear on the perpetrator of the injustice. This used to be called aristocracy. We've spent the past 250 years pretending it doesn't exist here in the States.
- colpabar 5y agoI find it funny how we use phrases like "Russian oligarchs" all the time without batting an eye, but we never use them when referring to the Bushes or the Clintons in the US.
- JadeNB 5y agoThere's a minor genre of imagining US journalism standards for world reporting applied to reporting on the US: https://slate.com/tag/if-it-happened-there https://slate.com/tag/if-it-happened-there
- alanlammiman 5y agoLOL. It's telling that even in these satires they don't quite get the tone right - it still has a tinge of US- centrism in there
- kevin_thibedeau 5y agoThe power resides in generational wealth not some commoners who got lucky. These people don't need to hold elected office because they can buy whatever they want, including manipulating government in their favor.
- ipaddr 5y agoThe Clintons and Bushes are not really oligarchs. They represent a monarchy maybe of inherited wealth and status. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerburg are better examples of oligarchs because they managed to create their own wealth and with that obtained political clout.
- cratermoon 5y ago> they managed to create their own wealth Haha, there's that fiction. See how deeply it pervades all thinking about power and success in the US?
- Ekaros 5y agoI take that politicians are more of useful tools. Not the people who have any real power or wealth.
- JadeNB 5y ago> The system tends to be very good at punishing rich people that swindle money from other rich people. … Eventually? I'm surely not the only one who thinks of Madoff first, and he got away with it for almost a decade after suspicions were first reported.
- tsimionescu 5y agoAh, but Madoff was also making money for other rich people, so the system took some time to decide what to do.
- isk517 5y agoMadoff got 150 years once he was convicted, though you are correct, I probably should have stated that the system is very good at punishing rich people that are CAUGHT swindling other rich people.
- r00fus 5y agoIt's a convenient fiction the rich/elite propagate through funding stupid plot lines in books/TV/movies while hiding that the elite get off scott-free and later expunge the records. Convenient because it allows the state to continue to pass more and more draconian laws that prevent any change to the status quo in which the rich get richer and poor are further dehumanized.
- yunohn 5y agoI often debate this with HNers, so yes, there are quite a few that believe the world is perfectly fair, more so in “democratic” countries.
- hackerbob 5y agoYeah I wonder why this is. Perhaps misplaced idealism of human nature and authority. The Judge, CEO, or the Journalist despite their lofty titles are human too and can be influenced by others. They also are not immune to their own personal desires and biases as well.
- fallingknife 5y agoA simpler explanation would be that it's just the way it works in every human society ever.
- pempem 5y agoMaybe we could consider it an easier explanation rather than a simple one. It seems like splitting hairs but its important The rule of law however has been continuously pursued across centuries and different societies in an attempt to subvert this 'default' operating mechanism. I would argue the nature bit is where you favor yourself. Its hard to find people who will disfavor themselves in the name of egalitarianism. The rest is the result of resources/funds being concentrated in the hands of people who also end up with power due to said resources/funds.
- jdavis703 5y agoYes. Donald Trump was impeached twice and has an unknown number of civil and criminal investigations ongoing. If a billionaire and the leader of a major political party is in this much trouble, it kind of shows that elites do get in trouble.
- ThrowAway145 5y agoTrump is an extreme example. He basically did everything he could to get himself into trouble. He operated as a troll essentially and instigated the public on Twitter, followed by an attempt to overthrow the government. If we looked at normal and even favorable politicians like Nancy Pelosi or President Biden, we might find something worth investigating as well but has gotten swept under the rug. Punishing politicians in itself can be political even...
- cratermoon 5y agoOh but that's part of the fiction and the rigging. If he were a poor non-white person, he'd have been in prison for the last 30+ years, or after whenever his first swindle and self-aggrandizing fraud happened.
- metalliqaz 5y agoAnother way to look at it is that an elite mired in so much corruption and antisocial behavior was rewarded by being elected POTUS and allowed to finish his term and orchestrate an insurrection without consequence.
- pjc50 5y agoOngoing, not completed. However a lot of his less privileged associates were actually convicted.
- tsimionescu 5y agoImpeachment + acquittal and open trials aren't punishment. They are the very opposite - they show how we make a show of justice for the elites, while doing nothing practical. I can promise you that nothing substantial will come of all these trials - he will at the very worse have to pay some small percentage of his huge fortune.