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How Corrupt America’s Dictators Are

Eric Zuesse

Image source – here.

Yet another poll confirms that America’s dictatorial clique take advantage of the ignorance and gullibility of the average person so that the clique’s politicians can win votes no matter how much these politicians block passage and enforcement of any proposed laws that the dictators don’t want to pass or to be enforced.

In this latest case, the owners of the insurance companies refuse to allow single-payer (i.e., tax-financed, as opposed to for-profit) health insurance, though three-quarters of the American people, in the latest poll, want it, and though past polls (which likewise were hidden from the public) also overwhelmingly indicate that the public want it.

For decades now, the owners have blocked it, though the public have overwhelmingly wanted it.

This is an excellent example of the consistent finding in the empirical political-science literature, that the U.S. is a dictatorship by the richest against the public, and not actually a democracy at all.

This particular poll-finding was a poll taken by Ipsos for the Reuters ’news’-agency and was made public by Reuters on August 23rd; and what Ipsos found, regarding this matter, was effectively kept secret by the sponsoring ’news’-organization (Reuters), by their burying it within a bad article that Reuters issued under an almost unrelated headline, “Inside the progressive movement roiling the Democratic Party”, in which report, this finding didn’t even pertain to “the progressive movement roiling the Democratic Party” (the article’s alleged topic) but instead, pertained to the entire U.S. electorate, and was merely found to be more pronounced among Democrats than it was among Republicans — as it long has been, and so that’s not even news at all.

So, this important finding was buried by Reuters, under an inappropriate heading, and it was buried there, in that lengthy and unrelated story, despite the finding itself being probably of broader general interest to the American people than was that drab headline, about the Democratic Party’s particular segment of the U.S. electorate.

This important poll-finding was buried 70% down in that lengthy trashy Reuters article, in which it was being introduced. The finding was that Americans of all parties, and of no party, who are asked “Would you support or oppose the following?” regarding “a policy of Medicare for all?” answer overwhelmingly yes.

The only news-site which published the finding itself, on the same day, August 23rd, was this — hardly a mainstream (i.e., billionaire-backed) news-site:

Reuters/Ipsos poll: 70 percent support Medicare for All

Posted by Don McCanne MD on Thursday, Aug 23, 2018

This entry is from Dr. McCanne’s Quote of the Day, a daily health policy update on the single-payer health care reform movement. The QotD is archived on PNHP’s website.

Reuters/Ipsos, June and July 2018 – Would you support or oppose the following?

A policy of Medicare for All? (When it comes to the U.S. healthcare system)

Democrat
84.5% – Support
10.7% – Oppose
4.8% – Don’t know

Republican
51.9% – Support
37.4% – Oppose
10.7% – Don’t know

Total
70.1% – Support
20.6% – Oppose
9.3% – Don’t know

In this new Reuters/Ipsos poll of 2,989 American adults, 70 percent support Medicare for all, and even a majority of Republicans – 52 percent – do so as well.

As of two days after that ‘news’ release from Reuters, August 25th, no mainstream ‘news’ medium had published this information. Two days later, on August 27th, still no mainstream ‘news’ medium had reported it. To the vast majority of Americans, it’s still a secret, no news at all. And now it’s too late even to be news, it’s only history — but still hidden history. The poll showed that 77% of Americans who had an opinion one way or the other about socialization of the health-insurance operation in the U.S. favored it; only 23% of those people didn’t want that change to be made. And all mainstream ‘news’ media in this country ignored that fact which had been buried in a Reuters ‘news’ story.

So: any Americans who (like the vast majority of people are) is so authoritarian as to be favorably influenced toward a belief when that belief is reported to be shared by a majority of the population, won’t likely know that single-payer health insurance (otherwise known as “socialized health insurance”) is favored by over 3/4ths of the American public (and was supported by around 2/3rds for decades before that), and yet has consistently been blocked by the politicians whom they’ve been offered on their electoral ballots for federal offices, in the general election (the final election).

It’s been blocked by the supposed ‘democratically selected representatives of the American people’. The American people are (in the general election) actually being offered only candidates for national offices whom the billionaires have offered to them. The only political options that are finally offered to the American public are ones whom some segment of America’s billionaires back. It’ll be either the conservative billionaires, or the liberal billionaires, who will be represented by any given federal office-holder, in the U.S.A.

This is a typical example of the consistent finding in the empirical political-science literature, that the U.S. is a dictatorship by the richest against the public, and not actually a democracy at all. And it also displays, quite strikingly, the corruption of America’s ‘news’ media (controlled by those billionaires), to fit that corrupt government — really, that they belong to the same few people, billionaires (plus the few most politically active of centi-millionaires), who control the U.S. Government itself.

So: any person who refers to America as a “democracy” should be asked what is meant by that term, because America is certainly not a democracy — it’s actually a dictatorship, by the rich.

Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of  They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.


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davem
davem
Aug 30, 2018 6:02 AM

The UK at present is a classic example-
After the 2017 election, when Corbyn’s Labour got 40% instead of being wiped out,
The ‘Establishment’ has gone into overdrive to change Labour’s policies- They think
getting rid of JC will put their Blairites back in control, so their gravy train can go on.
They really are stupid, it was policies, as much as JC that got the 40%.
Re-enationalise the railways? Can’t do it in EU- But UK taxpayers put in 4bill.UKP a year-
The train operators. including Deutsche Bahn, HKMTR, both maj. owned by govts.!! , take out 3 bill in profits- DB have said they use this to improve Germany’s rail system!
Mugs all…

Jim Scott
Jim Scott
Aug 29, 2018 4:19 PM

One of the most salient aspects behind the destruction of the democracy has been the unaccountable deep state or the permanent unelected government and its cosy relationship with the oligarchs. This has been recently been highlighted by the revelations of Edward Snowden. However the clues have been around for 50 years to my knowledge. I read an interview with then Vice President Nelson Rockefeller where he told the journalist that the principal role of the CIA was to propagate American business interests abroad not to protect the people. He said Russia was not the enemy the enemy was the have nots.
The structure of corporate shadow government explains why there are so many wars in countries with strategic resources. It also explains why the massive wasteful 5 eyes spying network has been put in place.Not only is it a massive money spinner for the operating private companies, it is able to hack technical information from other businesses and countries. The recent revelation that revealed that the Pentagon cannot account for the loss of $21trillion shows why there is no decent public healthcare and why education is only for the rich.

Robbobbobin
Robbobbobin
Aug 30, 2018 2:02 AM
Reply to  Jim Scott

“…the clues have been around for 50 years to my knowledge.”

Your 50ish and up 50ish:

“There does not seem to be cause for alarm in the dual relationship of the press to the public, whereby it is on one side a purveyor of information and opinion and on the other side a purely business enterprise. Rather, it is probable that a press which maintains an intimate touch with the business currents of the nation, is likely to be more reliable than it would be if it were a stranger to these influences.

“After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with producing, buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world. I am strongly of the opinion that the great majority of people will always find these the moving impulses of our life.”

“Of course, the accumulation of wealth cannot be justified as the chief end of existence,” he said. “But we are compelled to recognize it as a means to well-nigh every desirable achievement. So long as wealth is made the means and not the end, we need not greatly fear it. […] But it calls for additional effort to avoid even the appearance of the evil of selfishness. In every worthy profession, of course, there will always be a minority who will appeal to the baser instinct. There always have been, probably always will be, some who will feel that their own temporary interest may be furthered by betraying the interest of others.”

-- Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States of America, on 17 January 1925, in an address to the American Society of Newspaper Editors entitled "The Press under a Free Government."

Cal believed that the baser insticts of the rich would be far less likely to pervert the freedom of society and the “media” than would the corruption of goverments in socialist autocracies like (…wait for it…) RUSSIA.

My 50 and up another 50? Well, of course. History is a millennia-old cycle of forgetting the lessons of history that were last forgotten only a couple of generations ago. From dumb to dumber and back again in 50 year lumpens.

Maggie
Maggie
Aug 30, 2018 11:10 AM
Reply to  Jim Scott

@ Jim Scott.
”The recent revelation that the Pentagon cannot account for the loss of $21trillion shows why there is no decent public healthcare and why education is only for the rich.”

Would that be ANOTHER $21 trillion on top of the $2.3 TRILLION that Rumsfeld exposed as missing prior to 9/11???
And what a coincidence that the Budget Analyst office in the Pentagon was destroyed the very next morning???
http://911blogger.com/news/2014-09-08/day-911-suspicious-events-sept-10-2001

Is there no end to the stupidity of the American people who appear to be so drugged up and dumbed down they don’t know or don’t care what is happening?

Why is there not a massive outcry over there.

vexarb
vexarb
Aug 31, 2018 9:30 AM
Reply to  Maggie

Open letter to President Trump concerning the consequences of 11 September 2001 – by Thierry Meyssan [Voltaire.Net]

Excerpt: “The crimes of 11 September 2001 have never been judged in your country. I am writing to you as a French citizen, the first person to denounce the inconsistencies of the official version and to open the world to the debate and the search for the real perpetrators.”

https://www.voltairenet.org/article202645.html

Robbobbobin
Robbobbobin
Aug 29, 2018 3:48 PM

A word that a lot of BTL posters on this site seem to be searching for is “swaraj”. Mahatma Ghandi’s main perceived “legacy” in the west is probably “nonviolent” (activism, struggle, etc.) but he would probably prefer it to be “swaraj”.

rtj1211
rtj1211
Aug 29, 2018 12:21 PM

We had a term in 1980s Britain called ‘elective dictatorship’ describing supermajorities in Parliament achieved through minority support at the ballot box.

We had the right to vote, but only via an electoral system everyone knows fails to represent significant minorities (25% popular vote can yield 50-250 seats dependent on vote distribution; 9% popular vote can deliver almost zero representation) and over-represents 30-40% support.

Once we had voted, nothing could be stopped as supermajorities could bring everything into statute.

It took 10 years from 1987-1997 to defeat a Tory supermajority on minority support. Then we had two more supermajorities of the other lot, now controlled by the super rich.

Recently, by chance we have had three elections without supermajorities.

What we do not have is demos kratos, government of the people, for the people, by the people.

BigB
BigB
Aug 29, 2018 3:46 PM
Reply to  rtj1211

Unfortunately, rtj, we were also given the chance to change FPTP in the interim, and a superminority chose to keep it. It was a shit Hobson’s Choice, accompanied by another Project Fear that browbeat the electorate to another century of disproportionate unrepresentation …but there you go. Until the deformed consciousness of the precariat realise they have no representation at all (and what is being represented is of no benefit in the long-term) …we’re stuck with unrepresentative rule.

Maggie
Maggie
Aug 30, 2018 11:39 AM
Reply to  BigB

@ Big B.
So, we get what we deserve then?
The only people we should fear is your/our Government who will stop at nothing to retain their power, and line their pockets and those of their Masters..

Project Fear is a cynical construct of False Flags. The patsies they parade in front of us are compromised immigrants, who are clearly threatened with deportment if they don’t comply, and take part in the heinous Hegelian Dialectic.
All in the name of Neocon Imperialism.

The game is all but exposed here in England. Very few people believe any of the garbage spewed from the mouths of the politicians and the presstitute MSM, who supposedly to have our interests at heart.

The latest episode of the Novichock non-poisoning of the two drug addicts, sealed their fate. They were obviously in the wrong place at the right time and were clearly plucked from obscurity and given a bag of narcotics to experiment with, some of which killed the woman.
Then IMHO the guy was paid off and chose to use the cash to have a ball and shove as much stuff up his nose and in his arm as he could manage, and thus put himself into a life or death situation, as do all drug addicts. Which will be a win win situation for this corrupt Government.

Robbobbobin
Robbobbobin
Aug 29, 2018 10:37 AM

While you’re about it you might care to

(1) look at what is going on at the break between the penultimate and ultimate sentences in the disclaimer immediately above the text entry box into which I am typing this (i.e. “…off-guardian.org[HERE[Please note the opinions expressed…) and

(2) expand (somewhere, if not inline) on “such as” in “Basic html can be used, such as ’em’ for italic, ‘strong’ for bold and…; i.e. list what counts as “Basic html” in this editor.

Robbobbobin
Robbobbobin
Aug 29, 2018 3:39 PM
Reply to  Robbobbobin

The above reply seems to have become detached from a post by “Admin”, where it also appears…

JJ139
JJ139
Aug 29, 2018 9:11 AM

Apropos healthcare in the US, here is a frightening story of a school teacher who was fully insured via the education authority, had a heart attack and was billed over $100,000 for things the insurance company refused to pay for. Including $19000 per stent that not for profit hospitals charge about £1000 for!

https://khn.org/news/a-jolt-to-the-jugular-youre-insured-but-still-owe-109k-for-your-heart-attack/

Harry Stotle
Harry Stotle
Aug 29, 2018 8:27 AM

The US health care system is a prime example of the klepto-corpocracy’s complete and utter disregard for the wishes of the electorate.

The US spends a staggering 17% of GDP on health care, virtually twice that of the NHS, yet still sentences people to death rather than compromise the profit culture that the system is set up to exploit.

George
George
Aug 30, 2018 7:53 AM
Reply to  Harry Stotle

The US health care system is a prime example of psychopathic vampirism.

vexarb
vexarb
Aug 29, 2018 7:40 AM

From SyrianPerspective:

“Igor Bundy

A truly authoritarian leader would have the sole power to:
– declare war unilaterally and frequently;
– issue 300,000 national security letters, administrative subpoenas with gag orders that enjoin recipients from ever divulging they’ve been served;
– control information at all times than any monarch in history under the National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions.
–torture, kidnap and assassinate anyone anywhere at will.

Personal freedom in an authoritarian state would be limited by
– secretly banning 50,000 people from flying and refusing requests for an explanation
– imprisoning 2,000,000 people witout trial
– executing 2,000 people each year prior to arrest.

In a real an authoritarian state there would be
– warrantless surveillance of private phone and email conversations by the NSA;
– SWAT team raiding homes;
– shootings of unarmed citizens by police;
– harsh punishment of schoolchildren in the name of zero tolerance;
– endless wars;
– out-of-control spending;
– militarized police;
–roadside strip searches;
– roving TSA sweeps;
– privatized prisons with a profit incentive for jailing Americans;
– fusion centers that collect and disseminate data on citizens’ private transactions;
– militarized agencies with stockpiles of ammunition

No Chinese leader, including Mao, has ever had one such power. The US President has and exercises all of them. Regularly.

http://www.unz.com/article/dysgenics-and-low-creativity-why-china-cant-save-civilization/
12

vierotchka
vierotchka
Aug 29, 2018 2:44 AM

Why are all comments in italics? They make reading difficult for old or tired eyes, and especially for my old eyes which are developing macular degeneration. 🙁

Admin
Admin
Aug 29, 2018 8:19 AM
Reply to  vierotchka

Coding issue ATL which we will endeavour to fix today – apologies

Robbobbobin
Robbobbobin
Aug 29, 2018 10:42 AM
Reply to  Admin

“Coding issue ATL which we will endeavour to fix today…”

While you’re about it you might care to

(1) look at what is going on at the break between the penultimate and ultimate sentences in the disclaimer immediately above the text entry box into which I am typing this (i.e. “…off-guardian.org[HERE[Please note the opinions expressed…) and

(2) expand (somewhere, if not inline) on “such as” in “Basic html can be used, such as ’em’ for italic, ‘strong’ for bold and…; i.e. list what counts as “Basic html” in this editor.

Robbobbobin
Robbobbobin
Aug 29, 2018 9:56 AM
Reply to  vierotchka

Look up “AREDS2” and see https://bjo.bmj.com/content/82/8/907

Gwyn
Gwyn
Aug 29, 2018 1:51 AM

“If voting made any difference, they wouldn’t let us do it.”

Robbobbobin
Robbobbobin
Aug 29, 2018 10:44 AM
Reply to  Gwyn

Whoever you vote for, the government always wins.

James Connolly
James Connolly
Aug 28, 2018 9:19 PM

Over the past two years there has been an avalanche of angsty articles and books bewailing the decline of “liberal western democracy.” Yet back in 2015, the year before Trump and Brexit, a former US president was publicly stating that America was no longer a functioning democracy but a corporate and financial oligarchy, due to the unlimited political bribery.

https://theintercept.com/2015/07/30/jimmy-carter-u-s-oligarchy-unlimited-political-bribery/

Strangely, that shattering conclusion by a man who had occupied the summit of western democracy received little to no attention in MSM, much less incite a flurry of angst from liberal commentators.

Nor did the findings that same year by two of America’s most esteemed mainstream political scientists, Martin Gilen and Benjamin Page. Those professors also reported that the U.S. political system had become an oligarchy, “where corporations and wealthy elites steer the direction of the country, regardless of and against the will of the U.S. majority and irrespective of which party holds the White House or Congress”. They concluded that, after two centuries of America’s Great Experiment, “Ordinary citizens have virtually no influence over what their government does in the United States.” (Democracy in America: what has gone wrong, Princeton, 2015). Yet the populist earthquakes that occurred the following year are still being interpreted at the highest levels as the work of Russian Facebook bots.

Frankly Speaking
Frankly Speaking
Aug 28, 2018 10:35 PM
Reply to  James Connolly

In other words, put more simply, it’s the classical definition of a fascist state.

Baron
Baron
Aug 28, 2018 10:44 PM
Reply to  James Connolly

Excellent point, James.

It’s big money that rules today in the Republic, the Donald would have had no chance had he not been as rich as he is. The cost of running for the top job is prohibitive to any individual who either hasn’t got enough money oneself, or cannot get enough sponsorship money.

No individual critical of this state of affairs, proposing to change them, could attract big financial backers, who themselves benefit from it.

It’s when the plebs realise that election or not they are stuck with an increasingly unbearable top leadership that pays lip service to what they desire and need that the streets will erupt.

grandstand
grandstand
Aug 28, 2018 11:33 PM
Reply to  James Connolly

And, ironically, the US Government is constantly threatening to bring democracy to other countries – the ones ruled by “regimes” that refuse to fall in line of course.

This chart makes interesting reading:

http://www.pewglobal.org/database/indicator/3/survey/all/

The countries in which more than 50% of people were, in the most recent survey of that country, satisfied with the direction of government were: China (87%), Vietnam (87%), Malaysia(77%), Sweden (66%) Germany (59%), Russia (56%), Canada (55%), and Bangladesh (54%). And that’s it, The UK comes in at 40% and the US 33%. These surveys were from 2014 or in the case of Canada 2013 and Sweden 2007. Other Scandinavian countries were not surveyed, though I guess that Norway and perhaps Denmark would do well. I suspect, though without real evidence, that the beacons of democracy, the US and the UK, have fallen further since 2014.

James Connolly
James Connolly
Aug 31, 2018 11:09 AM
Reply to  grandstand

@grandstand

Very interesting, thanks.

Jim Scott
Jim Scott
Aug 29, 2018 3:15 PM
Reply to  James Connolly

Those professors have been reading my posts for the last 20 years.

Andy
Andy
Aug 28, 2018 7:51 PM

America is still a democracy in the people “elect” government officials… Yes the majority are incapable of opening their eyes to realize even though the election is a process of democracy; we are nothing more than puppets on a string to be feed choices the rich feel we should have….

This has been this way for centuries in the U.S. but people are very slow to understand… A perfect example in this article; the survey shows what the majority want but also shows the rich what they have to make sure we don’t get.

Admin
Admin
Aug 29, 2018 8:22 AM
Reply to  Andy

Is there any reason to believe the elections are any less rigged than the Democratic Primaries?

Andy
Andy
Aug 29, 2018 6:31 PM
Reply to  Admin

By the time the general election comes around to those in power it doesn’t matter which candidate gets in… The primaries are used to set a perceived “choice” of a candidate. Reality it is a candidate people have not in fact chose; money and the rich chose which candidate.

So the elections are actually rigged in the primaries.

Michael Leigh
Michael Leigh
Aug 28, 2018 7:27 PM

What is patiently obvious is that if there is a diarchy between those who have enough and those who do not; there cannot be a democracy. And a first proposition I agree with the logic of Eric Zuesse we cannot use the word ‘ Democracy with any North American institution or activity’.