Republican President Theodore Roosevelt , the “trust buster” president who successfully opposed powerful monopolies, said what the country needed was “a real democracy” and “of all forms of tyranny the least attractive and the most vulgar is the tyranny of mere wealth, the tyranny of a plutocracy.”
A plutocracy is a “society…ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income….“[T]hroughout history, political thinkers such as Winston Churchill…and Noam Chomsky have condemned plutocrats for ignoring their social responsibilities, using their power to serve their own purposes and thereby increasing poverty and nurturing class conflict, corrupting societies with greed and hedonism” (Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutocracy ).
Plutocrats overlap with the group Eidelson calls one percenters, but not every multi-millionaire or billionaire is motivated solely by greed and lust for power.
Currently, the United States (and other countries) are being wrenched steadily back into the tyranny of plutocracy. Where is the Theodore Roosevelt to stop them?
What
you need to understand about plutocrats:
Many are morally disengaged, able to convince themselves that behaviors causing enormous damage to people and the planet are all for the good.
Many want to get you morally disengaged too, and exploit groups already morally disengaged (more on fascists and chaos seekers later).
Many are political extremists who feed racism, ethnocentrism, and sexism, and use mind games (manipulating feelings of fear, anger, resentment, distrust, pride, and despair) to spread moral disengagement to vulnerable audiences. For example, they create scapegoats and dehumanize them. They propagate increasingly severe levels of poverty, and blame the poor for their misery. They generate policies designed only to help themselves, but claim the policies will benefit all.
Whistleblower Nick Hanauer never uses the terms mind games or moral disengagement, but provides compelling examples of both; moreover, his effort in this video and elsewhere (e.g., here and here ) suggest that even a one percenter can become morally engaged.
As the next election year approaches, let’s all work together to sustain and promote moral engagement.
“They’re Devious and Dishonest.” From condemning
labor activists to vilifying racial justice advocates, one-percenters will
portray their adversaries as treacherous, devious, and evil in intent. With
this mind game, they’ll encourage us to be suspicious and unsympathetic toward
those who are facing difficult circumstances or insurmountable hardships. When
this appeal works, we’re more likely to turn our backs on the victims of the
self-aggrandizing rich and powerful.
“They’re Different from Us.” Whether they’re stigmatizing
immigrant groups or progressive reformers, the 1% will describe those they
deplore as unworthy of our trust, casting them as different and out of touch
with what most Americans want. Whenever this deceitful ploy is successful, it
leads potential allies to view each other as adversaries. In this way, natural
coalitions that could develop among individuals and groups opposed to today’s
plutocrats are squelched or destroyed.
“They’re Misguided and Misinformed.” From the
corruption on Wall Street to the further militarization of foreign policy,
one-percenters will argue that their critics are misinformed and unreliable,
and that their judgments are not to be trusted. Whenever we’re persuaded by
such defensive appeals, we discount or entirely disregard important voices of
dissent. Crucial opportunities for tackling inequality and advancing the common
good are lost as a result.
“Trust Us.” Whether it’s billionaire union-busters or lobby-backed politicians, the 1% will promote themselves as paragons of integrity. They know their efforts and policies will be much harder to counter if we mistakenly view them as trustworthy and selfless in word and deed. The weight of evidence doesn’t support this favorable image, but that reality doesn’t matter if we fail to recognize their devious misrepresentations, hollow promises, and corrupt enterprises.
Superiority
“They’re Losers.” From reviling the homeless to
disparaging the unemployed, today’s plutocrats will portray those who are
down-and-out as inferior to the rest of us. With this mind game, they’ll
encourage us to stand aloof from decent people who deserve our compassion and
solidarity. And by boosting our own sense of self-worth, they’ll aim to
discourage us from recognizing that the massive concentrations of wealth and
power in this country reflect ruthless exploitation and unconscionable
disregard of the needy.
“We’ve Earned It.” Whether CEOs are defending their
astronomical pay or claiming the mantle of indispensable job creators,
one-percenters will fraudulently argue that they’ve earned everything they have
through determination and fair play—and that they deserve our praise rather than
criticism for their actions and choices. These assertions of superiority go
hand in hand with the pursuit of ever greater dominance. As long as their
self-glorifying narratives go uncontested, extreme inequality will remain a
disturbing fixture of our society.
“Pursuing a Higher Purpose.” From promoting
inequality-boosting right-to-work legislation to defending human rights abuses,
the 1% will insist that their actions embrace and protect the values we
cherish. But prioritizing big-money interests subverts the vision of a nation
of equal opportunity, where people from all walks of life join together for the
common good. Despite this glaring contradiction, greed-driven appeals often
succeed because they tap into our sense of pride over our country’s accomplishments
and influence in the world.
“They’re Un-American.” Whether they’re railing against desperate immigrants or kneeling football players, one-percenters will stoke intolerance by presenting their critics as inauthentic and unpatriotic Americans. They recognize that their rule will be jeopardized if unwelcome change-seekers gain broad support. So they’ll condemn those individuals and groups that refuse to silently accept hardship and mistreatment, characterizing them as ungrateful outsiders who fail to appreciate all that’s good about the United States.
Helplessness
“Change Is Impossible.” From catastrophic climate
change to inequality-boosting globalization, the 1% will insist that the world
is shaped by forces much too powerful to be tamed by human intervention. Closer
analysis, however, reveals that they lack the motivation—not the capacity—to
exert influence over these disturbing phenomena. Indeed, even when they’re not
the direct cause of others’ misery, too often they’re bystanders unwilling to
use their enormous resources to benefit the common good.
“We’ll All Be Helpless.” Whether they’re opposing gun
reform measures or minimum wage hikes, one-percenters will warn us that changes
will produce harmful repercussions that we’ll all be powerless to combat. The
goal is to frighten us into accepting a status quo that serves their own
interests but causes widespread damage to the public good. They hope that
concerns about future helplessness will lead us to turn our backs on those
suffering under the current system.
“Don’t Blame Us.” From environmental disasters at
home to reckless militarism overseas, the 1% will be quick to claim there’s
nothing they could do when circumstances take a turn for the worse. Given their
inordinate wealth and power, these cries of helplessness and blamelessness
merit careful scrutiny. Although they strut the stage boasting about their
purported talents and accomplishments, today’s plutocrats head for the shadows
when it’s time to accept responsibility for their policy failures.
“Resistance Is Futile.” Whether it’s protecting tax cuts for billionaires or flooding political campaigns with cash for future favors, the 1% will try to convince us that we’re helpless to wrest our lives and our country from their control. If we believe we’ll never succeed, our change efforts grind to a halt. But we should remember that one-percenters are susceptible to the disempowering effects of perceived helplessness too—if we can demonstrate our own collective power.
Resisting the 1%’s Mind Games
To reiterate: Any effective strategy for turning the tide on the
1% in 2019 depends upon countering and neutralizing these mind games. Concerns
about vulnerability, injustice, distrust, superiority, and helplessness deserve
to be important guides in policy debates and in efforts to advance the general
welfare. But today’s plutocrats cunningly exploit these concerns solely for
their own benefit, disregarding the harmful consequences that befall everyone
else.
What, then, can we do? First, we should understand that the 1%’s
mind games are much like a rampant virus that can infect unsuspecting people
with false and democracy-endangering beliefs. Second, we should take the steps
necessary to psychologically inoculate ourselves. That’s best accomplished by
learning to recognize these flawed, manipulative appeals wherever they
appear—in the media or in our neighborhoods—and by preparing forceful
counter-arguments to them. And third, having become skilled “first responders,”
we should organize others in our communities to do the same. The mission starts
now.
In my early childhood – born just north of San Francisco, and fresh from two years in England – I spent four years in Texas, then one in Alabama, unconsciously absorbing from both states a culture of racism and American superiority.
Then the family moved to Japan, where I spent three years absorbing a new culture, and, subconsciously, an alternative worldview. It changed my life, and I shall be forever grateful. When the family moved from Japan to Pennsylvania, I was shocked to discover fellow students who had never been out of their home state. I was like a visitor from the moon.
My formal education continued to be mostly ignoration, but the year was 1960, just in time for me to grow into The Spirit of The Sixties. As I watched The Beatles evolve into Peacemakers, coinciding with my college years, I began to realize just how brainwashed I had been.
My father, a bomber pilot in World War Two, was a career officer in the U.S. Air Force, rising through the ranks to become a Lieutenant Colonel. Hence our family’s many moves around the country and the world. Hence also my military upbringing.
When I entered Dickinson College in 1966, I joined ROTC (and its elite “Pershing Rifles” group). I quit after six weeks, having been ordered to do this and that my entire life, and now, in college, finally free from my father’s commanding influence, and joyfully participating more and more in the anti-establishment counter-culture revolution.
By my senior year at Dickinson, 1970, while President Nixon continued The Vietnam War, I was a member of S.D.S – Students for a Democratic Society – and with fellow peacemakers disrupting ROTC drill performances on the football field, and, more importantly, marching in peace demonstrations outside the gates of the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, just a few blocks from Dickinson.
After graduate school, post-1975, I embarked upon a self-education program, leading to my further political awakening, a new appreciation for Mark Twain and William James as members of The Anti-Imperialism League, and the writing of my book, America’s Indochina Holocaust: The History and Global Matrix of The Vietnam War.
Now, just about a year from 2020, I see The United States of Amnesia failing to learn the lessons of history, and increasingly becoming a high-tech version of Plato’s cave, governed by plutocracy, divided more and more by economic apartheid, and careening toward ecological apocalypse, nuclear war, and another Great Depression. John Lennon was right – “We are led by lunatics.”
Fortunately, the spirit of Emerson, James, and Twain lives on in the activism, writings and wisdom of people like H. G. Wells, Aldous Huxley, I. F. Stone, Martin Luther King, Noam Chomsky, Michael Parenti, John Pilger, John Prados, Dan Ellsberg, the Berrigan brothers, Molly Ivins, Howard Zinn, Bertrand Russell, Amy Goodman, Gore Vidal, Norman Mailer, Victor Wallis, Naomi Klein, Lewis Lapham, Thich Nhat Hann, Sulak Sivaraksa, the Dalai Lama, Vandana Shiva, and so many others.
Like Maya Angelou, I know “Why The Caged Bird Sings.” I know that the meaning of life is learning and service. And I give thanks for friends like Toni Snow and Lewis Randa, who help me keep the faith and keep on truckin’, as a Compassionate Peacemaker and global citizen, committed to Universal Brother-Sisterhood.
Note from Kathie MM: Please share with people on your email lists Stefan’s inspiring story of his journey to peace activism-and send us your own story for publication on engaging peace. Many families, many communities, include peace activists who go about the business of making the world a safer more just and human place. Share the stories.
What you really need to do is promote quality education—including supporting, appreciating, rewarding, and protecting the teacher and student activists who embody democratic principles. As neo-fascism and anti-intellectualism and the distrust of education and educated people they promote engulf our shaky democracy, give thanks for the students and teachers who have the courage to speak out on behalf of nonviolence and quality public education . We need good role models right now.
Enemies of freedom and justice have always worked to prevent and curtail education for any perceived threats–click here and here for examples– to their desire to dominate and control. “Keep them in their place,” is the eternal message, “or they will threaten our way of life”—a way of life that keeps all too many people downtrodden and feeling powerless.
Right now there is a huge conflict going on in this country—between the tiny but powerful and very greedy plutocracy exercising increasing control over the lives of the non-elite and the forces of resistance, the promoters of democracy, the broadest category of dreamers .
If you really, truly, honestly want a functioning democracy, support the students marching for our lives and support the teachers speaking out on behalf of public education and nonviolence. Find the causes and undertake the actions that make you feel you are doing your share to make the country better for all. And please tell us about them.