Princeton Researchers Conclude U.S. Political System Has Been Almost Completely Usurped Steve Watson Infowars.com April 21, 2014
Of the elite, by the elite, for the elite A recent scientific study by Princeton and Northwestern universities, which has gone somewhat under reported in the mainstream media, concludes that the US is now a fully fledged oligarchy. The paper, entitled Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups and Average Citizens, notes that America is no longer even a Democracy, which begs the question, how far removed is the country from being the Republic envisioned and painstakingly established by Benjamin Franklin and the founding fathers. “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, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence,� the study notes. In other words, powerful elites have taken over the country and effectively run the government, it is official. Of the people, by the people, for the people is now a thing of the distant past. The research undertaken by the universities included the study of close to two thousand government policies enacted over a 21 year period between 1981 and 2002.
Using a framework of political models – Majoritarian Electoral Democracy, Economic Elite Domination, Majoritarian Pluralism and Biased Pluralism – researchers found that the majority of those US policies were specifically designed to benefit wealthy elites. Policy outcomes “tend to tilt towards the wishes of corporations and business and professional associations,” the research states, meaning the US falls into the category of Biased Pluralism. Researchers concluded that the reason for the trend is that policies are made by special interest groups rather than by politicians acting on behalf of average Americans. “When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites and/or with organized interests, they generally lose.” the study also notes. “In the United States, our findings indicate, the majority does not rule — at least not in the causal sense of actually determining policy outcomes.” “Moreover, because of the strong status quo bias built into the U.S. political system, even when fairly large majorities of Americans favor policy change, they generally do not get it.” the study also notes. The study points toward the conclusion that the US is nothing more than an illusion of democracy. “Americans do enjoy many features central to democratic governance, such as regular elections, freedom of speech and association” the study notes, while warning “we believe that if policymaking is dominated by powerful business organizations and a small number of affluent Americans, then America’s claims to being a democratic society are seriously threatened.” The authors of the study, Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page concur that the will or opinion of the majority in the US has no effect on the way government is run. “The preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically nonsignificant impact upon public policy.” “Perhaps economic elites and interest group leaders enjoy greater policy expertise than the average citizen does,” Gilens and Page write. “Perhaps they know better which policies will benefit everyone, and perhaps they seek the common good, rather than selfish ends, when deciding which policies to support. “But we tend to doubt it” they add.
Aggression Runs Rampant Among Politicians In Washington Michael S. Rozeff Lew Rockwell Blog April 21, 2014
1. hostile or violent behavior or attitudes toward another; readiness to attack or confront. synonyms: hostility, aggressiveness, belligerence, bellicosity, force, violence; pugnacity, pugnaciousness, militancy, warmongering; attack, assault 2. forceful and sometimes overly assertive pursuit of one’s aims and interests. synonyms: confidence, self-confidence, boldness, determination, forcefulness, vigor, energy, zeal Recent examples. Senator Chris Murphy (on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee): “I think the time is now to rapidly ratchet up our sanctions, whether it’s on Russian petrochemical companies or on Russian banks.” “Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, the top-ranking Republican on the committee, said on the same program yesterday the administration should impose sanctions on Russia’s energy and banking industries unless there’s an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from the Ukraine border.” John Kerry (Secretary of State) “…if we’re not able to see progress on the immediate efforts to be able to implement the principles of this agreement this weekend, then we will have no choice but to impose further costs on Russia.” White House spokesman Jay Carney: “We are actively preparing new sanctions.” Chuck Hagel (Secretary of Defense) as reported in the Washington Post: “Poland and the United States will announce next week the deployment of U.S. ground forces to Poland as part of an expansion of NATO presence in Central and Eastern Europe in response to events in Ukraine. That was the word
from Poland’s defense minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, who visited The Post Friday after meeting with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon on Thursday.” The readiness to confront Russia is aggressive. In addition, there is no known benefit to the interests of Americans by intervening in the politics of Ukraine and/or Russia. There are only costs and large risks. Ukraine is none of my business and, I venture to say, none of your business either. It is therefore none of the business of the aggressors in Washington either, if they were truly representative of you and me. Russia doesn’t control the Ukraine or its politics any more than the U.S. controls the Mexican drug trade. Therefore there is no known link between such sanctions (and troops in Poland) and the politics in Ukraine. This makes sanctions not only aggressive but also stupid, dysfunctional, and ignorant. Some sort of a beginning of a possible resolution, however tenuous and partial, was reached last week at Geneva. This brought the OSCE into the picture. Obama immediately expressed skepticism and placed the burden of proof on Russia. He also limited the time frame for action to an impossibly short “several days” and continued to treat Russia as responsible for the internal politics and occurrences in Ukraine. Washington’s foreign policy is belligerent, bellicose, impatient, bullying, ignorant, thoughtless, irresponsible and stupid, all in one. It is a prime example of the inherent irrationality of political power and government and its capacity continually to produce outcomes that harm the people being governed.
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