Plutocracy Forms of government

Plutocracy
Forms of government

Plutocracy is rule by the wealthy, or power provided by wealth. 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) is derived from the
ancient Greek root ploutos, meaning wealth and kratein, meaning to
rule or to govern.
Usage

The term plutocracy is generally used to describe two distinct
concepts: one of a historical nature and one of a modern political
nature. 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 civilization of Carthage, the
Italian merchant republics of Venice and Florence, and Genoa.

Kevin Phillips, author and political strategist to U.S. President
Richard Nixon, argues that the United States is a plutocracy in which
there is a "fusion of money and government." [1].
Modern political

The second usage of plutocracy is a pejorative reference to a
disproportionate influence the wealthy are said to have on political
process in contemporary society. Positive influence includes campaign
contributions and bribes; negative influence includes refusing to
support the government financially by refusing to pay taxes,
threatening to move profitable industries elsewhere, and so on. It can
also be exerted by the owners and ad buyers of media properties which
can shape public perception of political issues. Recent examples
include Rupert Murdoch's News Corp's alleged political agendas in
Australia, the UK [2] and the United States or the oil industry
oligarchy, and billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife, which may back right-
leaning political action committees (PACs), as well as billionaire
George Soros' efforts to influence US politics by backing left-leaning
PACs.
Recently, there have been numerous cases of wealthy individuals and
organizations exerting financial pressure on governments to pass
favorable legislation. (see: Lobbying) Most western democracies permit
partisan organizations to raise funds for politicians, and it is well-
known that political parties frequently accept significant donations
from various individuals (either directly or through corporate
institutions). Ostensibly this should have no effect on the
legislative decisions of elected representatives; however it would be
unlikely that no politicians are influenced by these contributions.
Some describe these donations as bribes, although legally they are
not. In the United States, campaign finance reform efforts seek to
ameliorate this situation. However, campaign finance reform must
successfully challenge officials who are beneficiaries of the system
which allows this dynamic in the first place. This has led many reform
advocates to suggest taxpayer dollars be used to replace private
campaign contributions, these reforms are often called clean money,
clean elections reform as opposed to simply campaign finance reform
which does not address the conflict of interest involved where most or
all of the campaign money is from private, often for-profit sources.
Critics of so-called clean elections point out that that having the
government decide which candidates would receive tax dollars and
therefore be allowed to run would create an effective dictatorship
where the government decides who the people can vote for.

Forms of control

A Plutocracy is a government controlled by a minuscule proportion of
extremely wealthy individuals found in most societies. In many forms
of government, those in power benefit financially, sometimes enough to
belong to the aforementioned wealthy class.

Classically, a plutocracy was an oligarchy, which is to say a
government controlled by the wealthy few. Usually this meant that
these ‘plutocrats’ controlled the executive, legislative and judicial
aspects of government, the armed forces, and most of the natural
resources. To a certain degree, there are still some situations in
which private corporations and wealthy individuals may exert such
strong influence on governments, that the effect can arguably be
compared to a plutocracy.
If there are no forms of control within the society, the plutocracy
can easily collapse into a kleptocracy, "reign of thieves", where the
powerholders attempt to confiscate as much public funds as possible as
their private property. A kleptocratic state is usually thoroughly
corrupt, has very little production and its economy is unstable. Many
failed states represent kleptocracies.

THE AMERICAN PLUTOCRACY
http://www.progressiveliving.org/plutocracy_defined.htm
The specific American politicians who support plutocratic governance
are identified here
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To search the Progressive Living site for more concerning plutocracy,
click here
Read about the plutocratic agenda
Read about Progressivism, the antidote to Plutocracy
Go to the
Progressive Living political Field Guide.
Go to the Progressive Living economics Field Guide
Go to the Progressive Living preamble
Go to the Progressive Living site map
Go to the Progressive Living welcome page
See the resource on the Bush cabinet, with links that illustrate its
plutocratic nature