Counterpunch, Topic: Oligarchy in America
"But the most important part of the explanation, in the American case, is the lack of a real opposition party that the system in place does not thoroughly marginalize. The Democratic Party is useless for that. To be sure, even Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have been known to mouth off about the evils of inequality. But you don’t need a bullshit detector to see that they are part of the problem, not part of the solution." Longish excerpt from a lengthy and informative article: "The Trump phenomenon is both a symptom and a cause of this sorry state of affairs. It seems anomalous, because Trump’s persona is so outrageous, and because it is plain that no one with his temperament should be anywhere near the seat of power, much less anyone as clueless as he. It doesn’t help either that his cabinet is full of nincompoops and that his advisors are even worse; or that, for the time b...