Le Lacune Bref, Partie Deux

AKA Brief Hiatus, Part Two; pidgen French is one of the little games I play to amuse myself.

Couldn't make it till after Election Day, but didn't want to pile on to The Donald.  There's a wealth of evidence (regarding his complete lack of suitability to be President) available to anyone with more than one or two grey cells.  Ergo this post.  It's not specific to Mr. Trump, but I believe it highlights one part of the attitude that underlies his thinking (if one can call it that), and that of those who support him.

In 2015, former President Jimmy Carter said he felt the United States had become an oligarchy.  That sentiment can’t be brushed off as liberal emotionalism.  Well-respected institutions, as well as progressive organizations, have also put forth the same idea.

An effort at Princeton is particularly germane to this discussion.  In April 2014, two researchers, Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page, published a study that presented the United States had become an oligarchy.  Merriam-Webster.com defines oligarchy as

a country, business, etc., that is controlled by a small group of people, and / or: the people that control a country, business, etc.

Gilens and Page investigated over 1,800 policy initiatives taken from 1981 to 2002 by the Federal government.  Here’s how they summed up their work.

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.

Gilens and Page make clear that this less-than-encouraging characteristic is nothing new.  Rather, it’s the cumulative effect of a trend stretching back to the 1980s. They summarize the trend this way.

Ordinary citizens might be observed to win [only] if [the] elites with whom they often agree ... prevail.

In this space, I often urge you all to vote, in every election at every level of government.  The oligarchy vs. democracy conundrum is yet another reason to do so.  And two further thoughts come to mind in this context.

As always, the critical nature of voting is emphasized.  Not to mention which, there's been a lot in the news lately abut the possible affiliations between some of Donald Trump's inner circle, and the oligarchs now in power in both Ukraine and Russia ...

I'm just sayin' ...