For all its international dominance and insistence on democracy, the United States has never been truly democratic. While it is true that Western superpowers have some characteristics of democracy, many authoritarian regimes, such as Russia and Egypt, also have democratic characteristics.
The United States calls itself a representative democracy, which means that elected officials have an obligation to consider the ideas, interests, concerns, and welfare of their constituents when making political decisions. However, the reality is that US politicians feel indebted to the megadonors who finance their elections, and as a result, choose to serve not the people who voted them into power, but the financiers who made their election to office a reality.
The rich control American politicians. In 2017, then-President Donald Trump was accused of meeting with his 2016 campaign super-donor Sheldon Adelson for advice on how to address the Las Vegas mass shooting, an event in a A horrific attack on a music festival in the country left 59 dead and more than 500 injured. That was two days before Trump finally arrived in Las Vegas to meet with the surviving victims and families mourning the dead. Trump has denied the allegations, saying the timing of his meeting with Adelson was purely coincidental and unrelated to Adelson’s significant investments in Las Vegas.
America’s electoral system is deeply corrupt, as evidenced by the recent election of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, an event that will go down in history as one of the most notorious examples of American political inefficiency. The country appears to be completely ruled by two conflicting political parties: the Democrats and the Republicans. As a result, the country has become extremely polarized politically, with many Americans feeling frustrated and angry about conflicting political beliefs every day.
Economic disparity and discrimination are especially oppressive for minority groups, including Native Americans, Blacks, Latinos, and now Muslims. The gap between rich and poor is deep and widening. In the United States, approximately 32% of wealth is held by 1% of the population, a staggeringly disproportionate statistic. Even more worrisome, at the same time, more than 11 percent of Americans live below the poverty line.
An article from 2020 New York Times fairly accurately described economic disparity in the United States, stating that “Americans may be equal, but some are more equal than others.” % of Americans think the wealthiest people in the country should pay more taxes.
The United States Government (USG) is entangled with America’s “deep state” rich. By definition, any government in which power, whether overt or covert, is controlled by a small group of wealthy voters is called plutocracy. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter once alluded to the plutocracy of the U.S. political system, describing it as “an oligarchy with unlimited political bribes.”
Corruption Incentives
Since political candidates in the US need a lot of money to run their campaigns, they have to turn to the rich for help. Candidates spend an average of more than $10 million to win a Senate seat.according to Washington post2016 presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump spent more than $1 billion combined on their political campaigns.
The wealthy also use their power to manipulate the media, flooding broadcast platforms with polarizing ads and convincing the American public that the only votes that matter are those of the Democrats or Republicans.
This kind of propaganda has left many Americans at a loss as to which candidate to vote for, and some even choose to abstain because they do not support any candidate. Many Americans don’t know that elections are a program to get them to consider having a voice in government. However, the choice of who ends up as president, congressman or other official is often at the mercy of the wealthy in the hands of both parties.
Even at the state level, wealthy Americans control political candidates and elected officials by donating to campaigns. The wealthy also use their financial resources to marginalize certain communities through a process called “distribution injustice,” in which district boundaries are shifted in a way that favors one political party over another Strategically demarcated. . Minorities, the poor and the least educated are often the victims of this immorality.
call for reform
Without proper moral standards to ensure equal opportunity and constitutional rights for all citizens, democracy can easily become what John Adams called “the tyranny of the majority.” Thomas Jefferson also allegedly claimed that democracy often resembles mob rule, a comparison that has some merit.
The US government must reform. The current system in the country is riddled with corruption and will not last long, as evidenced by the 2021 U.S. Capitol riots.At a minimum, steps must be taken to secure campaign funding yes Democracy and fairness begins by cutting all government funding of individual campaigns and parties, rather than requiring the media to allocate “equal airtime” to candidates for free. Second, the USG must develop and enforce regulations to limit campaign funding and prevent “super-donors” from manipulating elections and government policy.
To mitigate the impact of super-donors, the USG could limit all donations from all sources to an amount equal to what an average-income American would be willing to donate to a candidate. PACs, unions, and other associations can multiply that amount by the number of their active members. However, individual and group double immersion is not permitted for any member.
Only when the United States takes steps to implement these changes will the country begin to move toward true democracy.
[Hannah Gage edited this piece.]
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Fair Observer.
