- 12 Jan 2008 22:42
#1424067
Do you think the U.S. is a plutocracy?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutocracy
Plutocracy refers to the rule or power through wealth or by the wealthy. In a plutocracy, the degree of economic inequality is high while the level of social mobility is low. This can apply to a multitude of government systems, as the key elements of plutocracy transcend and often occur concurrently with the features of those systems. The word plutocracy (Modern Greek: πλουτοκρατία - ploutokratia) itself is derived from the ancient Greek root ploutos, meaning wealth and kratein, meaning to rule or to govern.
The term plutocracy is generally used to describe two distinct concepts: a historical term and a modern political term. The former indicates the political control of the state by an oligarchy of the wealthy. Examples of such plutocracies include some city-states in Ancient Greece, the Italian merchant republics of Venice and Florence, and Genoa. Plutocracies typically emerge as one of the first governing systems within a territory after a period of anomie.[citation needed]
Kevin Phillips, author and political strategist to U.S. President Richard Nixon, argues that the United States is a plutocracy in which there has been "the fusion of money and government." [1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutocracy
"Nations ... as an inherent political destiny, are a myth. Nationalism, which sometimes takes preexisting cultures and turns them into nations, sometimes invents them, and often obliterates preexisting cultures: that is a reality." - E. Gellner