What Can We Do About The Oligarchs?
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Oligarchies have been around for a very long time in modern terms. The word itself comes from the ancient Greeks, like many of our words for social structures and types of government. What can we do about the oligarchs? Oligarchy versus democracy was first billed as a clash of governing systems some 3 millennia ago in Athens. The original Greek oligarchies were based on class and wealth, as the two most often went hand in hand. Democracy came about as a means to break the grip of noble families on governing Athens, the city state. This new expansionary form of government spread to other Greek city states.
Power: Oligarchy vs Democracy
Power has always been held in a tight fisted exclusionary manner. Democracy in ancient Greece only expanded the vote to adult male free citizens of the particular city state. Prior to this, it was limited to a council of adult male representatives of noble families. Women were kept in the home for breeding purposes and had no political standing whatsoever. That is not to say that they were not respected in the home. There were plenty of slaves around as well, who had no say in anything. This then, is the basis for what would develop into our modern conception of democracy. Excluded groups and demographics would have to fight to be included in the defining body of those eligible to vote. Adult males without property would be included by the 20C. Women would eventually get the vote after bitter struggles by campaigning activists later in the 20C. People considered to have the wrong coloured skin would likewise eventually get the vote much later as well. It took a couple of thousand years for these inclusions to come about, which tells us about the tight fisted nature of power in the world of Homo sapiens. White men of property will laugh about such unremarked upon facts of history but this is a stratagem to downplay the truth about power.
How Oligarchs Hold Onto Power
What can we do about the oligarchs? Elon Musk is a good example of an oligarch who has invested a lot in the projection of his image. This ruthless businessman repeatedly took the credit for every business he invested in to the detriment of those who actually ran these companies. Tesler and the solar businesses were not his conceptions but he made sure he got the credit for their success. Donald Trump, the Teflon don, has never been shy of claiming credit for stuff other folk have done too. Americans are big on hot air and spin. They revel in the hype and talk up stuff until the cows come home. Never get in the way of an American and his next sentence. AI is the latest overhyped global sales pitch being spun upon us all. How do oligarchs hold onto power?
“The most interesting discussion is how ancient oligarchs used information to preserve their regime. They combined secrecy in governance with selective messaging to targeted audiences, not unlike our modern spinmasters and communications consultants. They projected power through rituals and processions.
At the same time, they sought to destroy monuments that were symbols of democratic success. Instead of public works projects, dedicated in the name of the people, they relied on what we can think of as philanthropy to sustain their power. Oligarchs would fund the creation of a new building or the beautification of a public space. The result: the people would appreciate elite spending on those projects and the upper class would get their names memorialized for all time. After all, who could be against oligarchs who show such generosity?”
Space X rockets and satellites filling our skies, with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin not far behind. Talk about the public monuments of modern day oligarchs. These philanthropic billionaires doing us all such lavish favours hey? Stupid men ogling the success of the Big Tech bros – “I wan be just like them!’ If I ever grow up.
How Do We Combat Oligarchy?
What can we do about the oligarchs? The ancient Greeks used to exile those who were found guilty of crimes against the state. That or execution. Could we bundle up Bezos and Musk and blast them into outer space? Not a bad idea really. Although, you could imagine them coming back with armies of aliens of whom they sold stock options to on the basis of their support to overthrow the democratic government that exiled them in the first place.
Roman Oligarchy
The ancient Romans, during the time of their Republic, culturally despised great wealth as excessive. A good Roman was idealised as lean and tough. Having more food than you need to eat, because what was wealth for apart from this? Was seen as slightly obscene, somewhat like fat people are thought of today. The Romans were an agrarian race and saw things as farmers saw them. Yes, you put away enough food to see you through the winter but accruing vast amounts of wealth was not what truly great Romans did. You fought for the glory of Rome on the battlefield when young and then took your place in the Senate when of an age to do so. Ancestors were idealised and there was familial and social pressure to live up to their example. Elitism was a strong force and careerism a manifestation of that in government. Ancient Rome was an elected oligarchy during the Republican Period. It would become an imperial empire following Augustus’ rise to power. Rome would change culturally during the empire and the acquisition of great wealth would become a much more desirable thing for the elites of Roman society.
Oligarchy & Family
Wealthy people today do everything in their power to ensure that their children and families go on to enjoy more wealth and power. They send them to exclusive schools and colleges, where they hobnob with others of their social class. Networking occurs in these settings, which creates circles of influence for these future titans of business and whatever. The best jobs, often, end up being reserved for those in these circles of power. These social dynamics have been going on for centuries and millennia, of course. They make conceptions like meritocracy a bad joke in practice.
This is one of the reasons why Americans have had this fierce fear of socialism ingrained into them by the rich and powerful who rule their lives. They do not want some state based power preventing them from creating exclusive elite enclaves for their kids. They want to be free to behave like aristocrats, whilst telling everybody we are all the same. To live in gated communities keeping the riff raff out. To run businesses which prey on the powerless by paying minimum hourly wages of $7.25. Meanwhile, they bring in revenue in the tens of billions of dollars annually. CEOs are earning hundreds of millions of dollars a year, especially of the Big Tech corporations. However, any suggestion of raising the federal minimum wage is seen as some socialist form of evil. The disparity between rich and poor is obscene in America. These are not good people in any sense of the world – the American oligarchy is morally corrupt on an epic scale.
These Big Tech multinationals like Google and Apple shirk their taxation responsibilities on top of everything else. Minimising tax by shifting profits to tax free and low tax territories and applying in-house IP costs to drastically reduce profits from showing up in the first place. Big Tech has not only taken all the business revenue from markets but avoids paying a fair share of tax on that revenue to the governments where they do business. The power of governments has shrunk whilst corporations have become mega-entities with legions of lawyers and accountants. This is the world we live in and which oligarchic businesses reign supreme.
What Are We Going To Do About It?
Well, I doubt voting Donald Trump back into power is going to do anything to help the cause. Trump and the Big Tech bros are very cozy at the moment. Perhaps, the American people need to have their noses rubbed in it before the penny drops? Talk about heading in the wrong direction. In reality, in the US business rules the roost and always has. Government is for show and little else. Consumer power has been shafted in the US by the consolidation of corporate power and the loss of competition in markets. I don’t know if a concerted campaign against specific oligarchic entities can still work. Can the message get out to reach the numbskulls who buy the BS fed to them about who just is the enemy of the people. A united front is required to defeat the oligarchs. The American people have been divided and conquered. Things can change, however. Something pretty major is going to happen I reckon.
“At its core, oligarchy involves concentrating economic power and using it for political purposes. Democracy is vulnerable to oligarchy because democrats focus so much on guaranteeing political equality that they overlook the indirect threat that emerges from economic inequality.”
- (Ganesh Sitaraman looks at what two recent books –Classical Greek Oligarchy by Matthew Simonton and Oligarchy by Jeffrey Winters – can teach us about defending democracy from oligarchs)
What can we do about the oligarchs? If Americans cannot come together to overcome their economic enemy and see these corporations and their masters for what they truly are, then, I don’t see a lot of hope. Governments are there for the people and that is what they are supposed to be doing. The Central Bank, the Federal Reserve manages the economy via monetary policy. Business is booming in America but it is eating its own in the form of its workers and consumers. The imbalance is way too skewed toward investors, boards and CEOs. Most Americans are not shareholders, so they are getting screwed by the economy. Billionaires and their ilk are not going to save the ordinary people. It will take an uprising of the American people and new governments formed out of this to turn things around.
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump.
©MidasWord
