The world has claimed conspiracy theory for years, but it turns out the U.S. is actually an oligarchy, and I’m glad some top universities verified the truth.
For young voters and students who can’t wait to participate in this year’s midterm elections, it may come as a shock that Northwestern and Princeton universities released a study claiming the United States — the democracy we have been taught since elementary school to be proud of — is apparently an oligarchy.
For those unfamiliar, an oligarchy is a government ruled by the few instead of by the majority. Many activists have been screaming about this for years, especially after the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court ruling. This year, the McCutcheon Supreme Court ruling made this growing problem even worse by lifting the restrictions of campaign donations per election cycle.
My first reaction to the release of the study wasn’t shock, but rather the feeling that major universities had finally caught up with what activists already knew.
The Supreme Court cited freedom of speech as the primary reason for the ruling, which benefits the rich. What the rich have today is disproportionate influence over public policy and unparalleled access to politicians that the general public doesn’t have.
Both rulings are unfair because money shouldn’t be considered speech and corporations are not people. Power is shifting from living and breathing citizens to man-made business entities that threaten the democratic process.
The candidates with the most money almost always win elections. Because of this disparity, it is extremely hard for a grassroots, anti-establishment candidate to enter political office.
This study is a major step in the right direction because it cannot be denied anymore that the United States is an oligarchy instead of the myth of democracy. It’s almost shocking that two elite universities are the source of this revealing study.
Obama’s victory in the 2008 election is a perfect example of how popularity in the polls didn’t translate into popular policies in Washington, D.C. After Obama took power, instead of doing what progressives and liberals wanted, he didn’t go after the banks and didn’t push for major financial regulations.
Northwestern and Princeton’s study makes high school civics class almost obsolete. We already suffer from voter apathy and the feeling our votes don’t count, maybe the voter apathetic masses sensed something political junkies missed. Voter apathy is likely to continue to grow because of how unresponsive politics is to the plight of the people.
Elections have become more of a ceremonial role than a real political process because after the corporate financed candidate takes office, it is business as usual. Whether the Democrats or Republicans win, the corporate elite wins and the people lose.
United States oligarchs are beginning to resemble Russian oligarchs who robbed the state and ruled during the chaotic capitalist era of the ’90s. With the anti-government political climate, it is only a matter of time before America will return to the chaotic pre-New Deal capitalism that will reduce class mobility to an old Greek myth.
The corporate elite’s greed for profit has been famously known for years, but now they want a virtual monopoly of political influence that will ruin the lives of ordinary people. As a student of history, major disparities cannot last without conflict.
Occupy Wall Street was an early sign of a major class conflict that may occur in the future. Some activists call for a constitutional amendment removing money from politics, yet the political and corporate elites have ignored their calls. I hope reform can be made before the people’s faith in the system breaks. John F. Kennedy said it best when he foretold, “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”
Joshua Hajiakbarifini is a 24-year-old political science and economics senior from Baton Rouge.
Opinion: Study is correct in claiming the U.S. is an oligarchy
April 30, 2014