Billionaire oligarchs also seem to control Kamala Harris "erasing" Palestinians from the convention podium and her campaign. "Dollars for Genocide" has multiple meanings.
Thanks for the link. Through this link I was able to hear the Georgia state Muslim Palestinian's proposed DNC speech. Disgusting that she was not able to present it. Is t makes my blood boil literally.
Everyone MUST read The Invisible Doctrine by Monbiot & Hutchison, 2024. It’s a brilliantly succinct very readable exploration the roots and tendrils of “neo-liberalism,” the billionaire-funded corporate dismantling of society and democracy
Yes, one of the essential books, and MacLean is masterful in distilling the complexity. The crucial, chilling quote from plutocrats: “We have to save capitalism from democracy.”
Absolutely. The Invisible Doctrine is a concise, lucid summation of the decades of systemic oligarchical corruption that both parties have embraced and imposed.
To strengthen its democratic foundations, America should consider abolishing the Electoral College in favor of a one-person, one-vote system like other democracies. Additionally, removing big donor money from politics and replacing it with public funding for all elections would enable a wider range of politicians and parties to participate. This approach is similar to Sweden, where I grew up, where only public funding is allowed and no big money donors can influence politics. As a result, Sweden has nine active political parties, ensuring a more diverse and representative political landscape.
Yes, this would be good. US citizens have become so complacent and our Congressional representatives greedy that corporations, Israel/AIPAC now have effective control of the government. Just look at how they/Israel were able to spend 25 million dollars remove Jamaal Bowman as a Rep in NY recently. Disgraceful-Disreputable-Disgusting, Where are our morals as a nation?
Excellent. The rightest "think tanks" have no use (literally) for Palestinians, Muslims more widely (beyond oil mega sheiks), Jews (beyond AIPAC and the Bibists), most gays, most POCs, most women, most poor people, and most others. We (most of us) are in this together. And we are not helpless.
Good description of how the Billionaires control our society; I would have liked a little more on the issue of education in this country. Believe it or not, we use to have free college education in this country. State of California stopped it due to a law passed by Governor Regan and in 1981 the State started collecting fees. In 2011 it was labelled Tuition.
This is not an isolated incident, but a program by billionaires to take control of our educational system, where now they control who would be the President of any university, what would be taught in these Universities and who would be tenured.
It certainly is imperative that we get the power of Big Money out of politics. I do not blame AIPAC for exerting their full force on pro-Israel policies; it is done because they can do it.
Big money is only bad if the money is ill-gotten or used in a way that hams people and/or environment.
In the present political climate, it is not possible to change the system of government where we can elect the President, we elect the members of the electoral college which in turn elects the President. States can make an impact on the Federal system; we need to work simultaneously in the States as well to change the electoral process as the Republicans have been doing for many decades, while the Democrats seemed aloof on the consequences of these moves.
It is a process and like all processes it will take time. We have a choice to make, either keep talking or start now to make a change in our State Government, by passing laws that would stop out of State money in our politics. Maybe requiring only residents/voters to donate the money on any State Race. Marathon starts with a single first step.
This encapsulates what I have been digging around trying to understand. From Rep Sheldon Whitehouse to numerous other authors I have learned the elements of what Mr Serota assembles so clearly. In my twenties, some sixty years ago, I stood among four young men on a New York Yacht Club cruise and listened to them discuss how our country would be better run as an oligarchy. I thought they must not understand what oligarchies are about because my understanding was that that was the way the Soviet Union was run. But now I’m beginning to think that that kind of self-serving concentrated control has been an underlying theme in this country.
I disagree with the inclination to ascribe bad intentions to others because I believe that is merely distracting and self-defeating. Humans are not bad. We are made stupid by our voracious egos. That is why “We have met the enemy and they are us!” is such a classic quote from the cartoon character Pogo. We must be humble enough to get out of our own way without throwing guilt on others. Even those who are wealthy and powerful will go down the drain if the center cannot hold. It is inescapable that ‘no man is an island unto himself’.
I’m not religious in an established sense but it seems to me that the Old Testament teaches us how to live in community with others and the New Testament teaches us how to live in serenity with ourselves. If we refuse to learn from the inspired understandings of teachers and poets we will only cause suffering to ourselves.
We have been reading this and being warned for years. Yet the spin is VOTE!! As if Democracy depends on it. That is NOT the answer because of all the election fanagling in all areas. I do not know the solution but someone better figure it out. IMO its already too late ego and greed has won for now. Its going to get worse before better. Been talking reading writing warning FOREVER! Talk is all we do.
David Sirota is wonderful. The roaring success of The Lever and really quite amazing popularity of The Master Plan podcast show how if we had some real money the Left could be the major pole of reason in the mediasphere, instead of right wing garbage that has controlled things for all of our lifetimes.
People don’t vote because the system doesn’t give power to most votes, disempowers votes for emerging parties, smothers competition to the leo-liberal establishment parties. U.S. needs proportional representation.
The current voting system does not give every voter equal representation. If you vote third party you get NO representation in Congress. Most modern democracies use Proportional Representation voting — every vote gets an equal slice of power, no matter who you vote for: no wasted votes, pressure to vote as a block, no possibility for district boundaries to affect the outcome. Best if all: the seats in the House and Senate would match the votes accurately.
The Electoral College is incompatible with democracy — it’s an override switch for when the people vote against the interests if the wealthy plutocrats.
can we please start regularly naming them? How much they are worth and how much they have donated, and to whom? Them we make all these politicians where NASCAR suits so that we know who they are really working for. we can start here: https://www.desmog.com/heritage-foundation/
Thanks for this interesting piece, and I will definitely listen to this gentleman's podcast. But acronyms do not help to convey clear info to a public audience. DOG, DFTC, etc. What's that ??????
Billionaire oligarchs also seem to control Kamala Harris "erasing" Palestinians from the convention podium and her campaign. "Dollars for Genocide" has multiple meanings.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/09/06/why-is-kamala-erasing-palestinians/
Thanks for the link. Through this link I was able to hear the Georgia state Muslim Palestinian's proposed DNC speech. Disgusting that she was not able to present it. Is t makes my blood boil literally.
Everyone MUST read The Invisible Doctrine by Monbiot & Hutchison, 2024. It’s a brilliantly succinct very readable exploration the roots and tendrils of “neo-liberalism,” the billionaire-funded corporate dismantling of society and democracy
Also Nancy MacLean’s “Democracy in Chains” (2013) covers the beginnings, in the late 1950s, of the owners’ takeover. Charles Koch was there then too!
Yes, one of the essential books, and MacLean is masterful in distilling the complexity. The crucial, chilling quote from plutocrats: “We have to save capitalism from democracy.”
Absolutely. The Invisible Doctrine is a concise, lucid summation of the decades of systemic oligarchical corruption that both parties have embraced and imposed.
To strengthen its democratic foundations, America should consider abolishing the Electoral College in favor of a one-person, one-vote system like other democracies. Additionally, removing big donor money from politics and replacing it with public funding for all elections would enable a wider range of politicians and parties to participate. This approach is similar to Sweden, where I grew up, where only public funding is allowed and no big money donors can influence politics. As a result, Sweden has nine active political parties, ensuring a more diverse and representative political landscape.
Yes, this would be good. US citizens have become so complacent and our Congressional representatives greedy that corporations, Israel/AIPAC now have effective control of the government. Just look at how they/Israel were able to spend 25 million dollars remove Jamaal Bowman as a Rep in NY recently. Disgraceful-Disreputable-Disgusting, Where are our morals as a nation?
Excellent. The rightest "think tanks" have no use (literally) for Palestinians, Muslims more widely (beyond oil mega sheiks), Jews (beyond AIPAC and the Bibists), most gays, most POCs, most women, most poor people, and most others. We (most of us) are in this together. And we are not helpless.
Good description of how the Billionaires control our society; I would have liked a little more on the issue of education in this country. Believe it or not, we use to have free college education in this country. State of California stopped it due to a law passed by Governor Regan and in 1981 the State started collecting fees. In 2011 it was labelled Tuition.
This is not an isolated incident, but a program by billionaires to take control of our educational system, where now they control who would be the President of any university, what would be taught in these Universities and who would be tenured.
It certainly is imperative that we get the power of Big Money out of politics. I do not blame AIPAC for exerting their full force on pro-Israel policies; it is done because they can do it.
Big money is only bad if the money is ill-gotten or used in a way that hams people and/or environment.
In the present political climate, it is not possible to change the system of government where we can elect the President, we elect the members of the electoral college which in turn elects the President. States can make an impact on the Federal system; we need to work simultaneously in the States as well to change the electoral process as the Republicans have been doing for many decades, while the Democrats seemed aloof on the consequences of these moves.
It is a process and like all processes it will take time. We have a choice to make, either keep talking or start now to make a change in our State Government, by passing laws that would stop out of State money in our politics. Maybe requiring only residents/voters to donate the money on any State Race. Marathon starts with a single first step.
Yes, Like! Unable to give a quick like to comments right now.
This encapsulates what I have been digging around trying to understand. From Rep Sheldon Whitehouse to numerous other authors I have learned the elements of what Mr Serota assembles so clearly. In my twenties, some sixty years ago, I stood among four young men on a New York Yacht Club cruise and listened to them discuss how our country would be better run as an oligarchy. I thought they must not understand what oligarchies are about because my understanding was that that was the way the Soviet Union was run. But now I’m beginning to think that that kind of self-serving concentrated control has been an underlying theme in this country.
I disagree with the inclination to ascribe bad intentions to others because I believe that is merely distracting and self-defeating. Humans are not bad. We are made stupid by our voracious egos. That is why “We have met the enemy and they are us!” is such a classic quote from the cartoon character Pogo. We must be humble enough to get out of our own way without throwing guilt on others. Even those who are wealthy and powerful will go down the drain if the center cannot hold. It is inescapable that ‘no man is an island unto himself’.
I’m not religious in an established sense but it seems to me that the Old Testament teaches us how to live in community with others and the New Testament teaches us how to live in serenity with ourselves. If we refuse to learn from the inspired understandings of teachers and poets we will only cause suffering to ourselves.
I'm sorry to disagree, but I think bad intentions are very much a part of the problem!
We have been reading this and being warned for years. Yet the spin is VOTE!! As if Democracy depends on it. That is NOT the answer because of all the election fanagling in all areas. I do not know the solution but someone better figure it out. IMO its already too late ego and greed has won for now. Its going to get worse before better. Been talking reading writing warning FOREVER! Talk is all we do.
David Sirota is wonderful. The roaring success of The Lever and really quite amazing popularity of The Master Plan podcast show how if we had some real money the Left could be the major pole of reason in the mediasphere, instead of right wing garbage that has controlled things for all of our lifetimes.
The Left has plenty of money, but that’s not how they choose to use it. They mainly use it to maintain the status quo.
That's not actually the Left. That's the right wing of the Democratic Party. The actual Left is pretty poor.
Is there really much of a Left in the Democratic Party? It seems to be where the Republican Party was prior to Newt Gingrich.
Whatever you think of Musk, he does allow the truth about the Israeli genocide on X.
Really?
People don’t vote because the system doesn’t give power to most votes, disempowers votes for emerging parties, smothers competition to the leo-liberal establishment parties. U.S. needs proportional representation.
The current voting system does not give every voter equal representation. If you vote third party you get NO representation in Congress. Most modern democracies use Proportional Representation voting — every vote gets an equal slice of power, no matter who you vote for: no wasted votes, pressure to vote as a block, no possibility for district boundaries to affect the outcome. Best if all: the seats in the House and Senate would match the votes accurately.
The Electoral College is incompatible with democracy — it’s an override switch for when the people vote against the interests if the wealthy plutocrats.
can we please start regularly naming them? How much they are worth and how much they have donated, and to whom? Them we make all these politicians where NASCAR suits so that we know who they are really working for. we can start here: https://www.desmog.com/heritage-foundation/
Fantastic resource
Thanks for this interesting piece, and I will definitely listen to this gentleman's podcast. But acronyms do not help to convey clear info to a public audience. DOG, DFTC, etc. What's that ??????
Some helpful infographics on the Leo-P2025 connections here: https://www.stopthecoup2025.org/follow-the-dark-money
Lets face it, our political system is bought and paid for!