OLIGARCHY VS. PLUTOCRACY FREE

Most recently the Tribune Company, publisher of the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers and radio and television companies, bought the Times-Mirror, publisher of the Los Angeles Times, etc.

OLIGARCHY VS. PLUTOCRACY FREE

A functioning democratic society depends upon a free exchange of ideas today fewer dissenting views are heard in the public square, as diversity is narrowed or muffled. I have also deplored the emergence of the global media-ocracy, whereby a handful of powerful media conglomerates virtually dominate the means of communication. Mergers and acquisitions continue at a dizzying pace, as small and mid-sized businesses and farms disappear independent doctors, lawyers, and accountants are gobbled up by larger firms and working men and women are at the mercy of huge global conglomerates, which downsize as they export jobs overseas. As America enters its third century we may well ask whether our democratic institutions will survive and if so in what form.Īs readers of these pages know, I have been concerned by the virtually unchallenged growth of corporate power. This question, unfortunately, will not be taken seriously by most voters-but it damned well ought to be.Īncient Greek democracy lasted only a century the Roman republic survived for four, though it was increasingly weakened as time went on. Neither Free Inquiry nor the Council for Secular Humanism can endorse political candidates, but this should not preclude me from presenting my own personal views about the deeper humanist issues at stake.Ī plutocracy is defined as 'government by the wealthy.' The critical question that should concern us is whether the United States is already a plutocracy, and what can be done to limit its power. Many do not consider Nader to be a viable candidate, for the Green Party does not represent an effective political coalition. But he has been rebuffed and has climbed into the same bed with Bush. Typically, Paul Krugman, op-ed columnist for the New York Times, has ridiculed Nader precisely for his attacks on 'corporate power.' Senator John McCain did raise the issue of the special interests and soft money corrupting the political process. But he has largely been ignored or parodied by the mass media. Regrettably, none of the major candidates will deign to even discuss this vital question.

I deeply troubled by the fact that in the presidential and congressional elections there is little or no debate on what I consider to be a central issue for the American future: the emergence of a new and powerful plutocracy wedded to corporate power. From the Greek ploutokratia, from ploutos, wealth, and kratia, advocate of a form of government. Plutocracy: (1) government by the wealthy, (2) a controlling class of the wealthy. The following article is from Free Inquiry magazine, Volume 20, Number 4. The New American Plutocracy by Paul Kurtz

Oligarchy vs. plutocracy