In an oligarchy masquerading as a “democracy,” this distribution reflects 1) the need to avoid inequalities extreme enough to trigger revolt and 2) the need to cloak the fact that the vast majority of political influence is “owned” (bought and paid for) by the top 0.1%. Moral legitimacy is akin to what the Chinese call the Mandate of Heaven: Heaven and Earth are bound in a moral universe, and when society’s leaders forfeit civic virtues in favor of debauchery and private gain, moral legitimacy dissolves and the Mandate of Heaven is lost. To claim that jostling for the biggest share of federal power and largesse–in a word, greed–magically serves the common good is a convenient cover for an oligarchy masquerading as a “democracy” because the peasants get to vote on which branch of the self-serving elites had the most effective ad campaign this time around.
Author: Editor
Published at: 2026-04-02 22:00:00
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