Karl Frederick
10-16-2015, 11:08 AM
You've heard it said by others many times, including recently by President Jimmy Carter, that we now live in an oligarchy, where, in essence we have the best government money can buy.
A major New York Times article focused on the concentration of power enabled by the Citizens United decision. There was little media response to that article. Here's an excerpt from a stinging commentary in Esquire magazine about the media non-response:
At the time that the Supreme Court legalized influence-peddling on a mass scale, we were told that all things would even out because labor unions, Hollywood, and SOROS! The Times investigation thoroughly demolishes that alibi. The decision prompted an oligarchical revolution in how we conduct the processes of democracy in this country, and that revolution has been financed almost completely by—and almost completely for the benefit of—the political right. And, no, I don't believe a bunch of hedge-fund guys are shoveling money at their legislative sublets so that we can all have the opportunity to get rich by inventing the electric fork in our garages. They are doing so for the same reason the oligarchs of the previous Gilded Age did so – to make sure that the messy business of representative democracy doesn't touch their god-given right to buy the country for themselves,
More here (https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a38746/times-citizens-united-destructive/)
A major New York Times article focused on the concentration of power enabled by the Citizens United decision. There was little media response to that article. Here's an excerpt from a stinging commentary in Esquire magazine about the media non-response:
At the time that the Supreme Court legalized influence-peddling on a mass scale, we were told that all things would even out because labor unions, Hollywood, and SOROS! The Times investigation thoroughly demolishes that alibi. The decision prompted an oligarchical revolution in how we conduct the processes of democracy in this country, and that revolution has been financed almost completely by—and almost completely for the benefit of—the political right. And, no, I don't believe a bunch of hedge-fund guys are shoveling money at their legislative sublets so that we can all have the opportunity to get rich by inventing the electric fork in our garages. They are doing so for the same reason the oligarchs of the previous Gilded Age did so – to make sure that the messy business of representative democracy doesn't touch their god-given right to buy the country for themselves,
More here (https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a38746/times-citizens-united-destructive/)