From Charlie Pierces blog: Two researchers from Princeton send us into the weekend with some happy fun news. Using data drawn from over 1,800 different policy initiatives from 1981 to 2002, the two conclude 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. The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, they write, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence. It is significant that these researchers date the tumble of the country into oligarchy from the date of Ronald Reagans inauguration. Theres no wonder that the effort to mythologize Reagans two terms has been so vigorous and unending. The truth is too painfully ongoing to contemplate, and the complicity, tacit and otherwise, of generations of Democratic politicians in empowering that mythology is going to go down in history as the partys worst mistake.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Apr 2014 19:30:27 +0000
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