<
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/13/us-republicans-oligarchs-economics-nationalism>
"The United States presents itself as the beacon of democracy in contrast to
the autocracies of China and Russia. Yet American democracy is in danger of
succumbing to the same sort of oligarchic economics and racist nationalism that
thrive in both these powers.
After all, it wasn’t long ago that Donald Trump – who openly admired Xi Jinping
and Vladimir Putin – encouraged racist nationalism in America while delivering
much of the US government into the hands of America’s super-rich.
Now state-level Republicans are busily suppressing votes of people of color and
paving the way for a possible anti-democratic coup, while the national
Republican party excuses the attack on the Capitol – calling it “legitimate
political discourse” – and censures Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam
Kinzinger, the only two congressional Republicans serving on the panel
investigating that attack.
America’s oligarchic wealth, meanwhile, has reached levels rivaling or
exceeding those of Russia and China. During the pandemic, America’s 745
billionaires increased their holdings by 70%, adding $2.1tn to their wealth in
just over a year.
A portion of this wealth is going into politics. As early as 2012, more than
40% of all money spent in federal elections came from the wealthiest of the
wealthiest – not the top 1% or even the top tenth of the 1%, but from the top
1% of the 1%.
Now, some of this wealth is supporting Trumpism. Peter Thiel, a staunch Trump
supporter whose net worth is estimated by Forbes to be $2.6bn, has become one
of the Republican party’s largest donors."
Via Susan ✶✶✶✶.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
