Caution, Oligarchy at Work

OLIGARCHY: ol·i·gar·chy? [ol-i-gahr-kee]
–noun, plural -chies.

1. a form of government in which all power is vested in a few persons or in a dominant class or clique; government by the few.

2. a state or organization so ruled.

3. the persons or class so ruling.

1570s, from M.Fr. oligarchie (14c.), from Gk. oligarkhia “government by the few,” from oligoi “few, small, little” (of unknown origin) + arkhein “to rule” (see archon).

In the United States we call our method of government a “democracy” but the name we use has little to do with the practical situation in which we find ourselves now. Today we are a nation governed by a fantastically wealthy few who possess the means to instill in great numbers of people, an ideology that mixes consumerism, personal entitlement, religion, and natural law, into vile potpourri of fearful reaction. There is nothing novel about this technique of mind control. It has been used throughout history to subjugate people, move them to hate and war on others, and acquiesce in their own enslavement. Religious institutions corrupted by wealthy elites worked well for centuries. The Nazis and their corporate cheerleaders raised the technique to an art form. But in today’s media besotted culture, mind control is becoming more effective by orders of magnitude.

Once wealth becomes concentrated in the hands of a few, for any reason, it is absolutely certain that those few will use their wealth in every imaginable way to ensure that their wealth, power, and privilege are perpetuated and enlarged, and I hasten to add that if you or I were to become so privileged, it is quite likely each of us would behave in the same despicable manner. From this comes the adage, “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

The only way to immunize a society that systematically produces wealth differentials among individuals and groups from the emergence of oligarchies, is for that society to create mutually agreeable rules that ensure equitable relations among its members by redistributing wealth whenever it becomes concentrated in the hands of a few. In the United States, rules for progressive taxation and against monopolies, were weak but well intentioned techniques for doing just that, but even those paltry attempts have been defeated by — CAN YOU GUESS WHO?