One of the themes in the early material in this class was that keep a republic - a government based, indirectly, on the people was tough to do. There are forces at work that attempt to constrict power to a smaller handful of elites.
We referred to this as oligarchy, which is a general term describing any system that allows a small elite to rule. More recently the term plutocracy has been used. It refers to ruled by the wealthy. Some argue that the US is becoming more a plutocracy than a democracy. Here's an example.
- Click here for 5 signs America is devolving into a plutocracy.
2305 students will note that the Supreme Court has made recent rulings allowing wealthy people to spend more and more funds on elections. The Center for Responsive Politics conducted a study recently that argued that the increase in spending on elections is driven by the 1% of the 1%.
It might be worth a quick read:
- The Political One Percent of the One Percent in 2014: Mega Donors Fuel Rising Cost of Elections.
