US Is an Oligarchy Not a Democracy, says Scientific Study

[one...two...tree 2,762]

A study, to appear in the Fall 2014 issue of the academic journal Perspectives on Politics, finds that the U.S. is no democracy, but instead an oligarchy, meaning profoundly corrupt, so that the answer to the study’s opening question, "Who governs? Who really rules?" in this country, is:

"Despite the seemingly strong empirical support in previous studies for theories of majoritarian democracy, our analyses suggest that majorities of the American public actually have little influence over the policies our government adopts. Americans do enjoy many features central to democratic governance, such as regular elections, freedom of speech and association, and a widespread (if still contested) franchise. But, ..." and then they go on to say, it's not true, and that, "America's claims to being a democratic society are seriously threatened" by the findings in this, the first-ever comprehensive scientific study of the subject, which shows that there is instead "the nearly total failure of 'median voter' and other Majoritarian Electoral Democracy theories [of America]. When the preferences of economic elites and the stands of organized interest groups are controlled for, the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy."

To put it short: The United States is no democracy, but actually an oligarchy.

The authors of this historically important study are Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page, and their article is titled "Testing Theories of American Politics." The authors clarify that the data available are probably under-representing the actual extent of control of the U.S. by the super-rich:

Economic Elite Domination theories do rather well in our analysis, even though our findings probably understate the political influence of elites. Our measure of the preferences of wealthy or elite Americans – though useful, and the best we could generate for a large set of policy cases – is probably less consistent with the relevant preferences than are our measures of the views of ordinary citizens or the alignments of engaged interest groups. Yet we found substantial estimated effects even when using this imperfect measure. The real-world impact of elites upon public policy may be still greater.

Nonetheless, this is the first-ever scientific study of the question of whether the U.S. is a democracy. "Until recently it has not been possible to test these contrasting theoretical predictions [that U.S. policymaking operates as a democracy, versus as an oligarchy, versus as some mixture of the two] against each other within a single statistical model. This paper reports on an effort to do so, using a unique data set that includes measures of the key variables for 1,779 policy issues." That’s an enormous number of policy-issues studied.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/04/14

Edited April 15, 2014 by Porterhouse

[Póg mo 1,749]

A study, to appear in the Fall 2014 issue of the academic journal Perspectives on Politics, finds that the U.S. is no democracy, but instead an oligarchy, meaning profoundly corrupt, so that the answer to the study’s opening question, "Who governs? Who really rules?" in this country, is:

"Despite the seemingly strong empirical support in previous studies for theories of majoritarian democracy, our analyses suggest that majorities of the American public actually have little influence over the policies our government adopts. Americans do enjoy many features central to democratic governance, such as regular elections, freedom of speech and association, and a widespread (if still contested) franchise. But, ..." and then they go on to say, it's not true, and that, "America's claims to being a democratic society are seriously threatened" by the findings in this, the first-ever comprehensive scientific study of the subject, which shows that there is instead "the nearly total failure of 'median voter' and other Majoritarian Electoral Democracy theories [of America]. When the preferences of economic elites and the stands of organized interest groups are controlled for, the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy."

To put it short: The United States is no democracy, but actually an oligarchy.

The authors of this historically important study are Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page, and their article is titled "Testing Theories of American Politics." The authors clarify that the data available are probably under-representing the actual extent of control of the U.S. by the super-rich:

Nonetheless, this is the first-ever scientific study of the question of whether the U.S. is a democracy. "Until recently it has not been possible to test these contrasting theoretical predictions [that U.S. policymaking operates as a democracy, versus as an oligarchy, versus as some mixture of the two] against each other within a single statistical model. This paper reports on an effort to do so, using a unique data set that includes measures of the key variables for 1,779 policy issues." That’s an enormous number of policy-issues studied.

Economic Elite Domination theories do rather well in our analysis, even though our findings probably understate the political influence of elites. Our measure of the preferences of wealthy or elite Americans – though useful, and the best we could generate for a large set of policy cases – is probably less consistent with the relevant preferences than are our measures of the views of ordinary citizens or the alignments of engaged interest groups. Yet we found substantial estimated effects even when using this imperfect measure. The real-world impact of elites upon public policy may be still greater.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/04/14

This is very depressing, but I don't find any of it all that surprising. We have presidential elections every four years, but all candidates are carefully vetted by our elite long before Americans ever get to the polls. Congressional elections aren't much better either.

[luckytxn 2,264]

Well Duh!

They could have just asked me. I told y'all so.

[BatmanUSA 105]

was this study funded by American taxpayers.??

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

The US has shifted to a benevolent dictatorship.

Yes, Obama can win a third term

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

The US has shifted to a benevolent dictatorship.

Yes, Obama can win a third term

It might if Obama were Putin as so many of our far out right wing friends appear to wish. Fortunately, he's not.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

It might if Obama were Putin as so many of our far out right wing friends appear to wish. Fortunately, he's not.

He is not even the same gender compared to Putin.

[SMR 368]

Iron Law of Oligarchy: Everything is an Oligarchy.

[Sousuke 1,214]

Yeah Michels basically predicted that as a democracy ages it will naturally fall into an oligarchy.

[Peikko 1,575]

Well Duh!

They could have just asked me. I told y'all so.

Yes, I am sure most of us suspected the same, however, to have it actually 'proved' to be true by examining the evidence. We all know why of course, the elections are far to long, the funding of the elections far too lax and open ended and the lobbyists wield far to much influence. It's not like this in all democracies, some of the oldest have paltry levels of corruption in relation to the US. In the UK, there was an expenses scandal amongst MP's. The contested amounts? Peanuts. Money spent on stupid things and definitely not valid expenses but the most egregious were a couple thousand pounds. Pocket change that the average American politician wouldn't miss if it fell out of his pocket.

[Boiler 45,466]

US is supposedly a Republic, has never been a Democracy.

[Dakine10 5,452]

US is supposedly a Republic, has never been a Democracy.

It's a corporate oligarchy now. Need something done? Incorporate.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Yeah Michels basically predicted that as a democracy ages it will naturally fall into an oligarchy.

Seems only fair, since it was only handful of people that started the unpopular process of separating from the mother country. Communists were the ones that instigated, "Popular Wars of Liberation."

[Boiler 45,466]

It's a corporate oligarchy now. Need something done? Incorporate.

Bankruptcy?

[Dakine10 5,452]

Bankruptcy?

No. Lobby.

The study mentions when the electorate majority supports a bill, there is a 30% chance that it gets passed. I didn't see it here, but I have read before that when the electorate majority opposes a bill there is a 30% chance that it gets passed. In other word s the electorate has almost no influence on the legislative process.

When corporate lobbies support a bill, that 30% statistical chance of it passing almost doubles. As Horace Greeley would say, "Go incorporate, young man". It's the new America.