Get News & Views Updates
Most Popular This Week
- When You're Cutting Social Security, 'Wealthy' Begins at $25K
- With Little More Than a Note, Obama Deploys US Troops To Niger
- Stripped of 'Country of Origin' Label, US Agrees to Sell Tear Gas to Egypt
- Who Can Own Life? Farmer vs. Monsanto Before US High Court
- 5 Reasons Why the Keystone XL Pipeline is Bad for the Economy
- Who Can Own Life? Farmer vs. Monsanto Before US High Court
- Decolonize the Consumerist Wasteland: Re-imagining a World Beyond Capitalism and Communism
- Scale Implosion: After Ruining America, the Era of Giant Chain Stores Is Over
- 5 Reasons Why the Keystone XL Pipeline is Bad for the Economy
- Lose Your Lawn
Popular content
Today's Top News
Democracy Died First in Wisconsin – Long Live the Oligarchs
The Wisconsin recall election was the first major test of the new era in American politics.
That new era began in January of 2010 when the US Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v. FEC that the political voice of We The People was no longer as important as the voices of billionaires and transnational corporations.
Now we know the result, and it bodes ill for both 2012 and for the tattered future of small-d democracy in our republic.
A few of America’s most notorious oligarchs – including the Koch and the DeVos (Amway fortune) billionaires – as well as untraceable millions from donors who could as easily be Chinese government-run corporations as giant “American” companies who do most of their business and keep most of their profits outside the US – apparently played big in this election.
I say “apparently” because the Supreme Court has ruled that we no longer have the right to know who is really funding our election commercials, or even our candidates themselves.
Thanks to an irrational and likely illegal Supreme Court ruling, we have moved into an era of oligarch-run politics. As much as $40 million of our oligarch’s money was spent in Wisconsin in a handful of local races – a testing laboratory for strategies that will now be used against Democrats nationwide in 2012.
And so now we enter the battle of the oligarchs over the next fifteen or so months.
As the old saying goes, when the elephants fight, the mice get trampled. In this case, the mice aren’t just the voters. It’s democracy itself.
America is now – demonstrably, as proven by Wisconsin – just a few years away from the possibility of a totally corrupted, totally billionaire- and corporate-controlled political system. Political scientists call it oligarchy.
The Citizens United election experiment is over, and the oligarchs won. Long live the oligarchy.
Comments
Note: Disqus 2012 is best viewed on an up to date browser. Click here for information. Instructions for how to sign up to comment can be viewed here. Our Comment Policy can be viewed here. Please follow the guidelines. Note to Readers: Spam Filter May Capture Legitimate Comments...
196 Comments so far
Show AllWe've been there since the annointed one took office.
it is a grim development and it is sad to see the effort expended by the working people get overwhelmed by the koch bros and co
money is hard to overcome as a political force
but as the flash mobs occurring here and the out and out rioting taking place in other places like london and tel aviv show - the rabble is getting pissed off and this could all get much more ugly
if it does, the responsibility for all that ensues will lie with the oligarchs and their ruthless determination to dominate everything and everyone as a means to steal and squeeze every last dime out of society for their own aggrandizement
as i say - they play a dangerous game
i am not familiar with wi but i wonder what is on people's minds down there
why do they support the fascists and oligarchs against what appears to me to be their own best interests
everybody knows the war is over
everybody knows the good guys lost
Thank you for that bit of Leonard Cohen.
"America is now – demonstrably, as proven by Wisconsin – just a few years away from the possibility of a totally corrupted, totally billionaire- and corporate-controlled political system. Political scientists call it oligarchy."
America has been there before and it took several decades and much suffering for the people to extract themselves - only to turn around and let it happen again.
Even so, I see some reason for optimism. Even with such one-sided campaigning, the republicans lost two seats and probably should have lost another if not for Nickolaus' likely election fraud.
q
TOO TRUE!!!
It's the END of our Democracy. It's evidently what you get when the wealthy get elected to run our government instead of patriots!!!! Even the Supreme Court was in on it!
Sad!!!
I am not sure we ever really had a true democracy. I read a lot of historical books and our 'democracy' has always been bought by the rich.
How many lobbyists are there for each congress whore?
How did the robber barons of the past and present get their way? By paying off congress. Bribing them
How many congress whores leave richer then when they came in?
And even if the ads were paid for by the rich, people still voted for the Rs. Unless the votes were rigged. Again.
If people really did vote for the Rs, then they deserve what they get.
I think we should separate the US. The people that want what is right and decent, want corporations to pay taxes, not pollute the environment, ect, should be on one side. We will pay for a non corrupted government, get their services. while the others that want it out of their lives have to move to the armpits of the US and fend for themselves.
You mean Texas Alabama Missouri, Arizona,Florida and a few others should secede? Uhm perhaps not such a bad idea: States like California subsidizes some Southern States. WE might be better off!
But seriously an amendment to the Constitution to reverse for good People's United is URGENTLY Needed and not mentioned anymore by THom... I wonder why?
Bernie Sanders avoids questions that go in the direction of overtrowing the government . I remember CLEARLY one caller asking his opinion and getting a 100% side-tracked answer. Even Bernie won't dare...
What we're seeing is the folly of the Lesser of Two Evils capitulation strategy that Hartmann (and Nichols) is one of the biggest supporters of.
Where was Your Democratic President Thom? Putting on comfortable shoes and walking a mile with the Protesters? Or siding with the oligarch's?
Just admit the Lesser of Two Evils is a complete disaster. Draw ONE Line in the sand and MAKE the dems stay behind it or lose your vote - That is the only thing politicians understand. But that is something the lefties can't or won't do.
Money influences politics BUT many 1st time voters voted in 2008 and delivered the dems historic numbers and control of the House, Senate and White House - after watching the complete sellout of the dems to the corporate interests these 1st time voters in all likelyhood Will Not Vote Again -
Blame the voters for not showing up as you are wont to do While leaving out the fault of the dems who caused a decreased turnout.
I know this was a Wisconsin state issue But as goes wisconsin so goes the USA.
Thank you.
What corvo said.
Right On.
Very well said.
You nailed it.
My guess is they're hoping we'll field a third (independent, partyless, impotent) candidate they can blame this time.
Thom I love your show, love your books but your way to optomistic. Being an indigenous person, seeing the near destruction of a people by unfettered capitalism, i have to say it's only a matter of time until the rest of the world is welcomed onto the reservation.
If by optimistic you mean sell-out.
"America is now – demonstrably, as proven by Wisconsin – just a few years away from the possibility of a totally corrupted, totally billionaire- and corporate-controlled political system. Political scientists call it oligarchy."
What's so freaking scary about the word "fascism", Mr. Hartmann?
Oligarchy, kleptocracy, these words don't really capture the overall malignant nature of what we are witnessing and you know it.
What we are witnessing is fascism.
From the right-wing thrust of the ECB and Federal Reserve to the lunacy of the Christian nutters and ultra-nationalist/racists, world-wide there is a movement afoot, a movement that has been silently working its way into the open for decades, a movement the world has seen before in the last century.
Quit playing the simp, Mr. Hartmann, grow up and start to use your "big-boy" words.
This is fascism plain and simple.
But he can't because then he'd have to admit that the dems are Part of the problem and not the freedom fighters and the last stand against fascism he's always pushing. By saying Oligarchs he can point out a few repub fundraisers like Koch etc - but to use Fascism he'd have to admit that it's spread throughout the government - from the teaparty to Obama himself and all his 'donations' from the likes of Citibank, BP, GE and Goldman Sachs.
You're absolutely correct, mtdon. "Speak the truth and shame the Devil", as they say down south.
Not a pinch of shit between Repubs & Dems. The feeding trough is in plain view. The Corporate lobbying is not exactly being disguised very well. Both parties are complicit because that's the way politics works. There are "bi-partisan" semi-private parties all the time, where laws, regulations, and positions on issues are openly bought and sold. It's a thin fig leaf. It's all about the money.
Quit playing the simp? He isn't playing.
He does know it: Hartmann is a 'true believer' of the highest order. Too bad he does not publish his tripe over at the corporate owned Huffington post where it can still get some traction.
I don't believe the word "fascism" appears in the Federalist Papers, so perhaps Thom has never heard it.
Well, you've certainly done your part, Thom, by encouraging listeners/readers to back democratic corporate hacks who inhabit the white house and congress. These neoliberals disguised as democrats support the same policies as republicans, only they're less crude about it.
For a well informed person who's on-target about republicans, you sound oddly disconnected when you contort yourself into defending the democratic neoliberals. You defend the inexcusable.
Policy over party!
"Hartmann is an idiot." Unsure if truer words have ever been spoken.
Thom used to mention CommonDreams quite regularly on his radio show years ago. I do not listen enough to know if he still does.
It is quite clear from the comment section today that he has few if any remaining fans here.
Perhaps this would be a good time to offer Thom some "constructive criticism" on his ongoing defense of the Obama administration.
This article might actually carry some weight if not for the sad reality that Obama and the Democrats played their obedient role in acceding to every demand -- however trivial or obscene-- the oligarchy puts on the table. I am just wondering if Hartmann lives in a vacuum, detached from the inner workings of the corporate owned duopoly or how it is that they so easily advance their agenda. Obama recently capitulated on the debt deal which Republican John Boehner asserted that, “we got 98% of what we wanted” while Obama himself referred to the deal as a “compromise.” If we measure the two assertions against each other I guess we can conclude that Obama’s so called compromise yielded 2% of value to those of us who are real progressives. In typical Hartmann bombast, the oligarchy gains are attributed solely to Koch, et al, and strangely has absolutely nothing to do the Democrats or Obama who advance the Koch agenda via legislative fiat in collusion with the Republicans. With Hartmann, one can always expect to get HALF TRUTHS while ignoring the mechanism of the social downslide, i.e., the duopoly.
If it were not so pathetic, it would be laughable.
Ekobe, Thom does live in a vacuum - in Washington DC!
I used to listen to Thom's show. But time and again he's carried water for Obama. First he wanted us to make Obama DO the right thing. Now he says "Take over the Democratic Party from within, like the Tea Party is taking over the Republican party" He doesn't seem to realize that the Koch Brothers and huge corporations run the Tea Party. How are the progressives going to take over the corporate financed Democratic Party? I haven't heard him address this question.
Success has spoiled Thom. He used to let callers have their say. Now he interrupts and filibusters them. And he spends too much time "debating" right wing losers.
His heart may be in the right place but he's not using his successful show to promote true liberals. Perhaps he's too afraid to lose his show.
Kemo, no argument here. I suspect that the reason he debates "right wing losers" is because most of them are pretty stupid thus making him look powerful in the eyes of his band of disciples. I've urged him (prior to him banning me from his site) to debate the left, people like Derrick Jensen, Chomsky, Ward Churchill, Chris Hedges, etc... I think he had Hedges on his show once, but Hedges made him look foolish and has since not been back on. Truth is Hartmann is not an intellectural force; the place he occupies now is as the false Left to the false right, i.e., Rush Limbaugh.
Much of the wind went out of the sail that arose during the protests of winter; because as soon as the Democrats saw the parade they jumped out in front of it and claimed it as theirs.
If we don't buy their products, or buy as little as possible since I have to use the bathroom..... then would we not starve the beast?
At this point, our power as consumers is the only power we have left.
Capitalism defines People as Consumers not Citizens who own the levers of Governmental power.
Exactly! Personally, I have allowed myself to hope that the power of the purse, through worldwide boycotts, might somehow, someday (before I die!) be effective enough to emasculate the oligarchs and send them whimpering away long enough for us to get our foot back in the door.
Cut off your cable TV, minimize your driving, don't buy anything but necessities (that too only locally), grow your own vegetables in a community garden and avoid feeding the corporate beast. Let's see how long they last.
No, we can't starve the beast by not consuming, they'd just raise the price of essentials. We have to change the entire economic game away from capitalism.
So now the pendulum has swung so far to the right it has punched a hole in our starboard hull. What new mischief will soon rush in?
Pendulum? It's a wrecking ball.
We sink. And we are sinking right now.
Time to follow the British model.
Shame on Mr. O for never showing up and never showing leadership as teachers, fire fighters, first responders and children's education is under full attack.
Forget you, Mr. O.
He did show leadership. He supported the mass firing of the entire staff of a school in Rhode Island.
I have to say Thom is correct to a point. He didn't go far enough. Corporate and rich money controls congress, white house and consequently the government. Thanks to the Corporate owned SCOTUS the road to hell has been paved for fascism. How close are? Closer that you think. The future is now. I was talking to a young man recently who had a college degree but had been unable to find work commensurate with his educational training. He works for a huge corporation in one of their retail outlets. He makes 10.00 per hour with no benefits at all. He gets no vacation time, no sick leave, no health care and no retirement benefits, not even a 401K. If he's sick and has to take a day off, he loses a days pay. Plus he has to work 6 days per week with no overtime. This is the future the corporate government is giving us. A few years from now this guy will look like he was highly paid. When corporation began moving jobs out of the country they created a huge pool of unemployed workers for whom there are no jobs available. When one of these starvation jobs opens up there are hundreds, if not thousands, applying. Yet we hear one politician comparing the unemployed who have to resort to public assistance (what little is available) to Raccoons. Drop the Rac and it's easily understood what group he talking about. Can it get any worse? You betcha. What's so unbelievable is that the people who depend on the government services like medicare, social security and medicaid are the ones who consistently vote against their best interest.
We're already there, Thom. America was an oligarchy before Citizens United and that sorry ruling only ratified it and made it worse. That's capitalism, the system you love so much.
Two Rahm Emanuel quotes apply perfectly to Thom Hartmann. First, that progressives "are f*ing retarded." Second, progressives have no where else to go and will vote for Obama no matter what he does.
Emanuel hit the nail on the head when speaking of Hartmann. Although Hartmann poses as a progressive voice, in reality he has become a shill for Obama, the mass murderer and prostitute of the plutocracy. For a little inside access, people like Hartmann and media types have embraced Obama's own corparatism. Hartmann is well off. The suffering of the masses are just something he speaks about, not something he would expect Obama or the other corporate democrats he shills for to cure.
Here is your wake up call THom:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUTkavuPrv8
Thanks for the link, Ekobe.
I've seen that Carlin talk a number of times, and he makes a good point but overstates it. We need to get beyond the nihilistic defeatism of Carlin and others who counsel only despair. And from the intro to Brain Droppings he was very much a nihilist.
Democracy is never entirely dead until it is gone as even an ideal. Until then, there is a continual class struggle between the investor class and corporations, and the working class, or owning class and working class. "Democracy" is not now and never was something achieved once and for all. It must always be fought for against the plutocrats who seek to destroy it.
Democracy is never entirely dead until it is gone as even an ideal.
-----------------
Most excellent.
There is no power in purchasing goods made in China whether they are owned by multi nationals or Chinese. In both cases we support the Communist Chinese government and rising middle class in China who will eventually demand a living wage and American corporations will come back to Amerika where they have extracted and devalued the American workers wages.
Thom, we no longer have a two party system nor a democratic government. We have a few good representatives that so get over shouted and will not be re elected again unless they accept money from the well connected. Governments from city,county, state, federal government is financially comprised by bribes and payoffs - corruption. Greed and power has taken over, greed has over taken all layers of government agencies as everyone wants to get theirs as they see everyone else on the take. On the take means using our tax dollars to benefit their own pocketbooks or just extortion of our tax dollars. It is a vicious cycle that has trickled down (hey trickle down works) to probably the clerks in all government agencies. We all see the greed and corruption going on and human nature tells us to take care of our own and if this guy can do this why can't I?? Thankfully not everybody can get their hands on the public's monies.
So Thom what is difference between Fascism and Oligarchy?
Thom, hope you're listening to Carl in Morning KPOJ AM as he is giving an upbeat perspective of dems winning 2 seats in a unheard of recall elections. Great job Wisconsin.