It was an unwritten rule: The Super Wealthy were supposed to pull strings from behind a curtain
It can be a very thinly veiled curtain, but it's supposed to be there none the less, for the sake of appearances. It allows the illusion necessary to the preservation of a useful myth; that it is the people who freely govern in a democracy such as ours where all are deemed equal before the law. When mega donors give mega millions in campaign contributions to politicians, they aren't buying favorable votes for their special interests, for heaven's sake. There are never any quid pro quos involved, gosh no, just a polite willingness to listen to and give fair consideration to the legitimate concerns of a constituent. Of course more typical working and middle class voters are always listened to and given fair consideration by politicians in our democratic system, no big contributions needed from us to assure that, right? Ahem, right. And so it has gone in our democracy for many decades, where half a million voters, give or take a few tens of thousands, have the clout needed to counterbalance one politically active billionaire, on average.
And then comes along Elon Musk, the world's most wealthy man, who it seems has an aversion to lurking behind curtains. He prefers yanking on strings right out there in the open, flouting his ability to personally and directly influence the course of national and world events with his great wealth and the power that flows from it. Musk personifies the control that elites exercise in our society. He now is the face of it, replacing a hodge podge of bland corporate logos. It's been awhile since the gilded age when society's overlords tended to be household names. Musk, I strongly sense, is not alone in wanting to step out of the shadows where the likes of the Koch brothers once so liked to dwell. How he is overall received having done so will say a lot about the near term prospects for our democracy.
= new reply since forum marked as read
