A study, to appear in the Fall 2014 issue of the academic journal Perspectives on Politics, finds that the U.S. is no democracy, but instead an oligarchy, meaning profoundly corrupt, so that the answer to the studyâs opening question, âWho governs? Who really rules?â in this country, is:
âDespite the seemingly strong empirical support in previous studies for theories of majoritarian democracy, our analyses suggest that majorities of the American public actually have little influence over the policies our government adopts. Americans do enjoy many features central to democratic governance, such as regular elections, freedom of speech and association, and a widespread (if still contested) franchise. But, â¦â and then they go on to say, itâs not true, and that, âAmericaâs claims to being a democratic society are seriously threatenedâ by the findings in this, the first-ever comprehensive scientific study of the subject, which shows that there is instead âthe nearly total failure of âmedian voterâ and other Majoritarian Electoral Democracy theories [of America]. When the preferences of economic elites and the stands of organized interest groups are controlled for, the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.â
While I'm sure most of us already knew this, it's interesting to see that a study concluded this information. Though, I haven't checked out the study directly, yet.
Well, the electoral college does technically have the power to act against the the wishes of the general populace.
I think my history teacher said something along the lines of "they'd have to be extremely itchy to lose their job to vote against their party" (and then theirs the instances where because of barely winning big states and massively losing small, the president got less popular votes)
Reminds me of that one time this Local-Government mayor was ousted because the Koch Brothers spent quite a bit of money on manipulating the area around his district to oust him. I'm not sure on the details, just the gist of what happened. They did not enjoy how the mayor was not as fiscally-conservative as they were.
I think my history teacher said something along the lines of "they'd have to be extremely itchy to lose their job to vote against their party" (and then theirs the instances where because of barely winning big states and massively losing small, the president got less popular votes)
Lobbying and corruption seem to run rampant, I just don't know that anyone would lose their job if they are in the pocket of someone with money. I'm just going to HOPE that things do not operate the way they do in House of Cards.
Reminds me of that one time this Local-Government mayor was ousted because the Koch Brothers spent quite a bit of money on manipulating the area around his district to oust him. I'm not sure on the details, just the gist of what happened. They did not enjoy how the mayor was not as fiscally-conservative as they were.
This isn't the first time I've heard people say the U.S has a more Oligarchic government. I personally have no little knowledge regarding this particular subject but I do think this study has some valid points. It's something to ponder at least.
I honestly would not be surprised if the presidential elections were decided by the highest bidder, not votes.
I wouldn't be surprised either.
You guys would know this if you paid more attention to Tom and Serj.
Idk, how are we defining the terms democracy and oligarchy? Not that it would make much of a difference, but it seems better if it were properly defined. :L
Anyway, it's not like every act or bill passed actually gets voted upon. The only thing that the average citizen has some say about would be in referendums or electing the people who pass the acts.
That wouldn't make sense though, because by all accounts almost no contemporary or historical would qualify. D:
Well, hmm.
Considering that the US is defined as a Democracy, I would assume that the definitions the OP is using are
Democracy: A state in which people are allowed to choose representatives and then tell those representatives to do with issues, and the system has checks to prevent power grabs.
Oilgarchy: A government in which the rich have undue control over the government, and contrary to what may be the wishes of the general populace.
