Plutocracy In America

Americans are conditioned to see our present form of government as a representative democracy where power is in the hands of all the people. Until this assignment I realize did not understand plutocracy or the fact that we may already be living in a plutocracy. A plutocracy is defined as "government by the wealthy." A political system where power is concentrated in the hands of a small number of wealthy people, usually those with inherited wealth and wealthy families. At the top of every society an ironic mixture of those who are there by merit and capability and those who merely grab, hoard, and wield power and wealth. Every nation has its many, the general populace, and its few, the elite who dominate, rule, and favor themselves with wealth and privilege. It is and always has been the way of the world. It is not difficult to understand why this is so, why every society and nation forms itself into the many and the dominant few.
(According to Paul Kurtz). Lobbyists subvert the integrity of the Congress and of state legislatures throughout the land by buying influences and votes. Big oil, media, pharmaceutical, tobacco, gambling, insurance, and financial companies thus dominate the legislative process. For example, the banks and credit card companies charge usurious rates and use deceptive marketing practices, fleecing millions of unwary consumers and forcing them into bankruptcy, yet effective legislation to protect consumers was blocked in Congress by the banking industry. ere should be a growing concern by the virtually unchallenged growth of corporate power. Mergers and acquisitions continue at a dizzying pace, as small and mid-sized businesses and farms disappear; independent doctors, lawyers, and accountants are gobbled up by larger firms; and working men and women are at the mercy of huge global conglomerates, which downsize as they export jobs