USA: the world’s first democracy?

A recent study conducted by Princeton University Professor, Martin Gilens, and Northwestern University, Professor Benjamin Page, claims that the privileged few control US policy decisions instead of the masses. I presume their subsequent studies will also confirm that the earth is round, birds can fly and the religious right are silly. Considering the levels of publicity surrounding this study however, I can only assume that most people don’t find these conclusions to be painfully obvious and therefore know little to nothing regarding the corruptive levels of money in American politics or even the definitions of certain forms of government. Folks, get ready for a long and hopefully not too patronising History lesson.

The USA has been often popularised as the first democracy. Anyone with even the vaguest knowledge of classical history however would denounce such a notion as bullshit of the foulest kind. Whilst Ancient Athens happens to be that particular title-bearer, the USA in its original form didn’t even qualify as a democracy. The land of the free was also a land of hypocrisy after all, as women, people of colour and even those without houses of their own couldn’t vote and therefore had no political power whatsoever. This would have made early America very close to an oligarchy – a power structure where said power resides among the privileged few.

Even 20^th century America wasn’t really a democracy in the traditional sense, as Americans didn’t have active and direct participation in the decision making process of government but instead elected representatives who were most in line with their thinking to govern for them. Before you furrow your brow because you’ve realised that this is the case with most modern states, let me clarify. Most modern states are republics, not democracies- the difference being that a republic has elected representatives making political decisions for the people whereas democracies allow everyone to have a direct effect on policy. As you can imagine, such a democratic style of government isn’t very practical when you’re dealing with millions of people.

Yet modern-day America isn’t even a republic. The private financing of elections has allowed certain people and corporations to control politicians, not the people who voted for them. What would be considered as bribery in the rest of the free world is perfectly legal in the USA, as the Supreme Court ruled in the 1976 Buckley v. Valeo case that money counts as speech safeguarded by one’s First Amendment right.

The USA has been often popularised as the first democracy. Anyone with even the vaguest knowledge of classical history however would denounce such a notion as bullshit of the foulest kind.

What followed were Supreme Court rulings that almost entirely unhinged the limits on the private financing of elections. First National Bank of Boston v. Belloti gave corporations the First Amendment right to make political contributions whilst Citizens United v. FEC went further, limiting the amount that corporations could bribe politicians to a modest figure of whatever they want it to be.

That’s right, according to the Supreme Court and their infinite wisdom, corporations are people. Don’t say otherwise though, or you’ll hurt Apple’s feelings and give McDonalds a depression-induced eating disorder. The more recent McCutcheon v. FEC case saw the Supreme Court strike down limits on the overall campaign contributions the biggest individual donors can make to candidates, political parties and political action committees.

In a nutshell, American politicians can now only succeed on state and national levels with large campaign contributions and the only way for them to obtain these contributions is to capitulate to wealthy individuals and corporations with their own political interests. The outcome is that elected representatives begin acting on the needs of their wealthy donors who brought them into power instead of the needs of the American people who voted for them.

So who’s going to right this wrong? American politicians that are actually in power enjoy sucking on the tyrannical tit of big business too much to give power back to the people. This suggests to me that only the American people can reclaim the governmental power of their country. Unfortunately, they’re divided along party lines, despite the fact that both corporate Democrats and corporate Republicans will continue to bail out banks and subsidise fat-cat businessmen. For the policies that actually affect the economic well-being of the American people, both parties are one and the same. It’s the petty social issues such as abortion laws and gay marriage proposals that Democrats and Republicans actually disagree on, therefore it’s these issues that end up dividing the American people and make them believe that their political parties are fundamentally different. Unfortunately, they are fundamentally wrong.

It seems to me that the USA of today is almost identical to the USA of 1781. The country is controlled by a few wealthy groups and the average American citizen has no real power in the political process. The only difference is that today, the average American has the illusion of political power. Until this self-delusion is seen for what it is, the USA will continue to be run by corporations and wealthy individual donors.

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