To the Editor,
The United States has become an oligarchy; we now have a government that benefits the few, not the many. Corporate interests and the morbidly rich have succeeded in subverting the welfare of the many and have installed their agenda at the expense of the other 99%. A small group of super wealthy malefactors and corporate giants have bought most politicians via their campaign donations. When combined with the officeholders’ hope for future lucrative corporate positions or for a second career as a lobbyist, the will to resist corruption, if it ever existed, vanishes and the oligarchy’s desires are fulfilled as these morally pliable members throw their constituents to the wolves. This process has been facilitated by our politicized Supreme Court, which has ludicrously defined corporations as people and money as free speech. Bribery has been legalized.
The most important part of the oligarchy agenda is to keep the mountains of money they already have and to continue to grow their personal fortunes, public be damned. Hence the constant pressure to lower taxes, unconcerned that social services are negatively affected. Any action that will result in less government spending is deemed appropriate in their rarified atmosphere. Through their proxies, the oligarchy, if given the opportunity, will cut the biggest programs that so many Americans depend upon, such as Social Security and Medicare, notwithstanding the adverse economic consequences for millions of regular taxpayers. Indeed, the extremists of the so-called Freedom Caucus, have threatened to do just that in their misguided and hypocritical quest to cut government spending, so that taxes can be reduced for their oligarchic sponsors.
Bleak as the picture may be, there are actions that can break the stranglehold that the oligarchy holds over our lives. Effective tools to curb the inordinate power of the oligarchy are publicly funded elections, restoring regulations that prevent media monopoly, reversing the Trump tax cut for the ultra wealthy, eliminating impediments to voting and exposing the excesses of the oligarchy to the voting public. Yes, a Progressive agenda, if embraced by more voters may be the only way to restore, as Lincoln put it, “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”
Pasqual Pelosi
