How America Became an Oligarchy
How America Became an OligarchyPosted on Apr 8, 2015
By Ellen Brown, Web of Debt
This piece first appeared at Web of Debt.
According to a new study from Princeton University, American democracy no longer exists. Using data from over 1,800 policy initiatives from 1981 to 2002, researchers Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page concluded that rich, well-connected individuals on the political scene now steer the direction of the country, regardless of – or even against – the will of the majority of voters. America’s political system has transformed from a democracy into an oligarchy, where power is wielded by wealthy elites.
“Making the world safe for democracy” was President Woodrow Wilson’s rationale for World War I, and it has been used to justify American military intervention ever since. Can we justify sending troops into other countries to spread a political system we cannot maintain at home?
The Magna Carta, considered the first Bill of Rights in the Western world, established the rights of nobles as against the king. But the doctrine that “all men are created equal” – that all people have “certain inalienable rights,” including “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” – is an American original. And those rights, supposedly insured by the Bill of Rights, have the right to vote at their core. We have the right to vote but the voters’ collective will no longer prevails.
In Greece, the left-wing populist Syriza Party came out of nowhere to take the presidential election by storm; and in Spain, the populist Podemos Party appears poised to do the same. But for over a century, no third-party candidate has had any chance of winning a US presidential election. We have a two-party winner-take-all system, in which our choice is between two candidates, both of whom necessarily cater to big money. It takes big money just to put on the mass media campaigns required to win an election involving 240 million people of voting age.
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In every presidential election between 1872 and 1896, there was a third national party running on a platform of financial reform. Typically organized under the auspices of labor or farmer organizations, these were parties of the people rather than the banks. They included the Populist Party, the Greenback and Greenback Labor Parties, the Labor Reform Party, the Antimonopolist Party, and the Union Labor Party. They advocated expanding the national currency to meet the needs of trade, reform of the banking system, and democratic control of the financial system.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/how_america_became_an_oligarchy_20150408
= new reply since forum marked as read
Ending it would be great but talking about ending it will get you (unfairly) compared to right wingers
Nationalize the Federal Reserve
Brandon Turbeville The Progressive Gazette December 4, 2013
The United States today finds itself in the midst of a crisis which exists on a multitude of different levels. From the establishment of a culture of constant warfare, increasing environmental degradation, and the devolution into an outright police state, the perils of the current system are easily visible to those with eyes to see.
Nowhere, however, is the crisis more visible than in the manifestations of the world economic depression.
From mass unemployment (estimated at approximately 25% when all factors are considered) and a growing national debt to a ballooning trade deficit and the loss of purchasing power of the dollar as well as decrepit and crumbling national infrastructure, the United States today faces a crisis of epic proportions.
Most of the blame for this economic calamity, of course, can be directly traced back to the treachery of private bankers, Wall Street, and the practice of usury combined the acts of the agents of these financiers in the halls of government at some point or other. Ever since the Federal Reserve was solidified as the perceived national bank of the United States, the most powerful nation on the face of the earth and, thus, its people, were placed under the rule and at the mercy of private bankers. The economic health and future of the United States was placed in the hands of the very elitists and financiers from which the American people should have been protected. As a result of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and subsequent policy, the power of issuing currency and credit, the ability to cause mass inflation or deflation, and the opportunity to orchestrate booms and busts, productivity and depression, was placed in the hands of private bankers who were granted the authority to act completely independent of the authority of the United States Federal government. Thus, the U.S. Federal government has now been reduced to reacting to the decisions made by the private Federal Reserve instead of the Federal Reserve acting as a truly national central bank and reacting to the decisions made by the Federal government.
Although criticism of the Federal Reserve system has existed since 1913, both the criticism and the level of knowledge surrounding the history and purpose of the institution has increased to such a scale never before witnessed. With an understanding of the unconstitutional abrogation of Congressional authority, the massive amount of control now held by private bankers, and the current economic conditions that have resulted, many informed Americans have rightly become antagonistic toward the Federal Reserve and have adamantly called for changes to be made to the system...
more: http://www.progressivegazette.com/2013/12/nationalize-federal-reserve.html
Nationalize the Fed and Tax Speculation- why shouldn't wall street pay sales tax?
If You're #FedUp, Stand Up: A Movement Grows to Nationalize the Federal Reserve
http://www.occupy.com/article/if-youre-fedup-stand-movement-grows-nationalize-federal-reserve
