{"id":79260,"date":"2016-09-12T12:00:37","date_gmt":"2016-09-12T11:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=79260"},"modified":"2016-09-11T14:05:25","modified_gmt":"2016-09-11T13:05:25","slug":"empire-in-decline-when-the-oligarchy-inherits-the-wind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2016\/09\/empire-in-decline-when-the-oligarchy-inherits-the-wind\/","title":{"rendered":"Empire in Decline: When the Oligarchy Inherits the Wind"},"content":{"rendered":"

7 Sep 2016 – <\/em>The unthinkable may well happen.<\/p>\n

The US may elect as President a racist, xenophobic, narcissistic, con man with no knowledge of policy or governance.<\/p>\n

As of now, Trump holds a slight lead over Clinton<\/a> in the latest poll.<\/p>\n

Real progressives could be forgiven for feeling a healthy dose of schadenfreude, but then, schadenfreude is a bitter banquet if you\u2019re all in the same lifeboat.<\/p>\n

How could this be happening?\u00a0 Well, the bottom line is, the Oligarchy is getting hoisted on its own petard.<\/p>\n

For going on three decades now, the Oligarchy has been turning elections into a game of \u201cheads-I-win, tails-you-lose\u201d in which candidates from either party represented them, and not us.<\/p>\n

The only difference between the two parties and the majority of the candidates they field is how they portray themselves, and how closely they feel they have to hew toward reality.\u00a0 In terms of what they actually do<\/em> once elected, the differences are less pronounced.<\/p>\n

Three studies reveal how completely the Oligarchy controls the process, what the consequences are in terms of policy, and why a citizen\u2019s revolt was inevitable.<\/p>\n

The first, Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups and Average Citizens<\/a>, showed incontrovertibly how completely the average citizens have been disenfranchised.\u00a0 As Gilens and Page note, citizens have \u201c\u2026only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.\u201d <\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Polls on a wide range of specific issues<\/a> back up this conclusion.<\/p>\n

The second study, in which economists Saez, Zucman, and Piketty<\/a> updated their analysis on wealth inequality, reveals that the Oligarchy walked away with the vast majority of the new wealth and income generated since 1980.\u00a0 For example:<\/p>\n