Sep 2, 2012
One Percenters Buying Themselves an Aristocracy
The U.S. Constitution guarantees separation of church and state. What this nation needs now is separation of wealth and state.
Without such a protection, Americans stand to lose their democracy. They’ll be ruled instead by an aristocracy of 1 percenters.
That’s the 1 percenters’ plan. To them, it was no more than a perk when the U.S. Supreme Court enabled politicians to open their wallets for unlimited, anonymous campaign contributions. That’s because way before the 2010 Citizens United ruling, 1 percenters were working on a takeover. If the 99 percent don’t stop them soon, don’t establish some sort of separation of wealth and state, then the nation will lose its founding precepts — that all men are created equal and that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. Aristocracies can ignore the governed.
Already the 1 percenters have been extraordinarily successful. The rich really do enjoy advantages. They’ve succeeded in stuffing Congress with their peers. In America, fewer than 1 percent of all people are millionaires. In Congress, 47 percent are. The median net worth of a U.S. senator in 2010 was $2.56 million.
To read this incisive article by Leo W. Gerard, President of the United Steelworkers, please click here
Sep 04, 2012 @ 04:04:01
VLTP member Jonny Cache notes that The author is confusing Oligarchy with Aristocracy.
Aristocracy is Rule by the Best, which the 1% are not.
Oligarchy is Rule by the Few, which is all they really are.