And somehow we still call it a democracy

[Mabouya]

Link to NYT story: http://nyti.ms/1jVHlUn

"158 families have provided nearly half of the early money for efforts to capture the White House."

This can't be a good thing. I know there will be more donations later by the "little people," but still, this isn't good for the overall health of our political system.

They are overwhelmingly white, rich, older and male, in a nation that is being remade by the young, by women, and by black and brown voters. Across a sprawling country, they reside in an archipelago of wealth, exclusive neighborhoods dotting a handful of cities and towns. And in an economy that has minted billionaires in a dizzying array of industries, most made their fortunes in just two: finance and energy.

Now they are deploying their vast wealth in the political arena, providing almost half of all the seed money raised to support Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. Just 158 families, along with companies they own or control, contributed $176 million in the first phase of the campaign, a New York Times investigation found. Not since before Watergate have so few people and businesses provided so much early money in a campaign, most of it through channels legalized by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision five years ago.

[Dave Thompson]

It's spelled o.g.l.i.a.r.c.h.y.

[Dallas Tex]

It's spelled o.g.l.i.a.r.c.h.y.

Unless something has changed recently, those 158 families get one vote per person. Just like you or me. "1%" can't outvote 99%.

[Mabouya]

Unless something has changed recently, those 158 families get one vote per person. Just like you or me. "1%" can't outvote 99%.

In that case they must really be stupid, because they're spending all that money for a reason and it isn't for philanthropy.

[monadnocky]

IIRC the seven (eight?) Walmart heirs have as much wealth as the bottom 48% of the entire country.
Chilling even before reading Piketty.

[Mark Kelly]

It's spelled o.g.l.i.a.r.c.h.y.

Oligarchy?

[vertical_doug]

Unless something has changed recently, those 158 families get one vote per person. Just like you or me. "1%" can't outvote 99%.

the customer only gets to order from the menu, the cook decides what is on the menu.

the 158 families are the cooks. you, my friend, can democratically choose between a coke or a pepsi. There are no other choices.

[deano]

"...most made their fortunes in just two: finance and energy."

Listen I'm not even an arm-chair economist, but that statement is worrisome. (And, saying nothing of implications made above, I think it's worrisome no matter what someone's politics are, neo-con/free-market, leftie/prog, traditional economy, Tory, etc.).

And no matter what kind of government one values, democracy, anarcho-socialism, monarchy, etc., two sectors such as finance and energy dominating the [political or otherwise] economy point out that there's something contrived about that economy.

In other words, finance is a red-flag because it doesn't necessarily pertain to an actual physical contribution to the economy, just wagering on other things in said economy and trading on units pretty far removed from the day to day lives of humans. Big market forces wind up steering the context for what someone does with their mind and hands in their life. Seems like the tail wagging the dog. It's true humans have always applied their labor to the needs of the world but I am not well informed enough to know if we should associate something like our modern stock market with human necessities. Is the stock market even concerned with those same problems?

And, energy, well, this is a cycling forum, so I don't feel like I need a flame-retardant suit to suggest, yeah, I probably think the West has invented a bloated, unsustainable, unhealthy system of getting its people around and doing stuff in the world that we should probably turn back from. Yeah, we have a car and heat our home, yeah, we're implicated, etc., etc. But dang.

[Dave Thompson]

Oligarchy?

Yeah, that too. It's such an unknown and unused term here until recently, I had a brain fart trying to spell it.

[Too Tall]

Elections should last two weeks strictly limited to public funding.

[deano]

Elections should last two weeks strictly limited to public funding.

But how would we know how each and every one of the candidates would respond to each and every thing the other candidates say/do/eat for breakfast?

[XR2]

The condition of the country can be laid directly at the feet of public education.

Children are now taught how to memorize so the can answer specific questions on a test. Not how to find the answer. That's not an education.

[nahtnoj]

"1%" can't outvote 99%.

They don't have to outvote the 99(.999)%, because they choose who we get to vote FOR...

[Dallas Tex]

They don't have to outvote the 99(.999)%, because they choose who we get to vote FOR...

Seems like Bernie Sanders is disproving this conspiracy theory. And if more people got out and voted in the primaries, he'd be the democrat nominee.

[vertical_doug]

We are over 90 days away from the primaries. Clearly, the Obama administration wants Biden to run. Once that happens, Hillary and Bernie are toast. However, Bernie is not some newbie, he is a veteran politician and plays a good hand.

Here is a piece on him from The Atlantic that was written back in the 80's when he was mayor.
Bernie Sanders, the Socialist Mayor of Burlington, Vermont - The Atlantic

Peggy Noonan penned an interesting article in the WSJ last week about both Trump and Putin. The most interesting paragraph I post below:

"Here is a mystery question. Mr. Trump has been the Republican front-runner for three months. The first voting, in Iowa, is in just more than three and a half months. If Mr. Trump does well in the early contests—if he retains his lead and it starts to look like he can really win the nomination—then at some point it will come down, sharply, to him versus the party establishment. And that establishment, such as it is, will presumably try to kill him. The question: What will that look like? We’ve never seen that before. What will it be to have a party establishment try to kill the guy who’s No. 1 in that party’s polls? Maybe they think they’ll have golden oppo, but opposition research doesn’t really work on Mr. Trump, mostly because no one has illusions of probity about him. His supporters don’t think he’s a sweet, sinless businessman. They love it that he’s not."

[Dallas Tex]

There is no way either party is going to 'deny' the nomination to the respective candidates that win the primaries.

And the establishment of the Democratic Party doesn't want Bernie any more the Republican Party wants trump.

Make this election the turning point away from establishment career politicians by simply voting.

[deano]

I don't think voting matters. The raw math/statistical impotence of one person, the power of mass media, etc.

There are far more effective political acts (and if you want to hear about my political activity, PM me and I'll tell you, but I promise you'll be disappointed): phoning your congressperson, writing a letter to your governor, going to a city council meeting to weigh in on something. And, as many in this thread have pointed out, a number of folks have learned that money indeed talks the loudest and most effectively of all. And so they throw it around.

[nahtnoj]

Seems like Bernie Sanders is disproving this conspiracy theory. And if more people got out and voted in the primaries, he'd be the democrat nominee.

I don't think that because Bernie is popular with some activists in Iowa (old white people) and New Hampshire (old white people) that he is somehow a threat to the establishment nationally. His national numbers put him about 20 points behind Clinton, and lately she is leveling off from her decline over the summer. Democrats are much less inclined to go for the outsider because their insiders aren't totally incompetent. The dynamic changes if/when Biden enters the race, with the net effect of further marginalizing Bernie.

[Dallas Tex]

Writing a letter to the governor? Meaningless.

Voting the governor out of office? Meaningful.

Don't forget the basic principle. People's votes win elections. Bottom line.

[Jonathan]

(old white people) (old white people).

Ironically, this makes up all of the democratic candidates.