2024 Election: Oligarchy’s Mandate

I am having a difficult time this election cycle and debates between the two major candidates won’t resolve it. President Joe Biden says democracy is on the ballot, but Biden’s administration has caved into the demands of a foreign power’s interest group through our own country’s increasingly oligarchic system. Does Donald Trump provide an alternative? No, Trump would most likely enhance the slide toward a more powerful oligarchy, on top of his authoritarian aspirations.

Clearly Trump would be worse for me, but I simply cannot support the Biden administration’s lack of questioning, if not complete subservience to the Israel lobby which has overwhelmingly effected who gets elected, as well as US Middle East policy to the tune of thousands of dead women and children, possible famine, apartheid, ethnic cleansing and according to many, genocide, paid for with my tax dollars.

And as I look at Israel’s motives behind the current war, particularly the Likud party and other cabinet members, I clearly see that their motivation is religious in nature. So when you drill down to the core of the Biden administration’s Middle East policy, it can be exposed as supporting a Messianic, colonialist and rightwing government.

For me, the Democratic candidate is untenable. I understand this is a single issue, but it is a symptom of an oligarchic system. For many years, the value system of neoliberalism has accumulated power, which has slowly eroded the traditional democratic values outlined in the Constitution.

Symptoms of Oligarchy:
~ Citizens United case which allows the highest bidders to control elections
~ Lobbyist's increasing power and influence over political system
~Trend of privatizing media / education / prisons / military etc.
~ Bailout of banks after the 2009 recession
~ Insider trading by Legislative representatives
~ Supreme Court Normalization of corruption, loss of independence
~ Wealth inequality or widening disparities of income
The list could go on.

It was John Adams who was most concerned about “the few” accumulating too much power within the US government with their wealth. Adams argued that a powerful executive branch should stifle the interests of the aristocratic class by working together with the citizenry. But looking at the Biden administration today I find that is very clearly not the case. The oligarchy (big business, the wealthy, aristocrats, the few etc.) have subordinated the executive branch, as well as the judicial and legislative.

For me, a vote for either Biden or Trump is a vote in favor of oligarchy’s mandate. This election does not provide a clear choice between democratic and authoritarian values, as Biden suggests. For me it is a call to empower third party candidates.

Eamon Loingsigh

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on June 27, 2024 10:12
No comments have been added yet.