44

Why Calling the US a ‘Democracy’ Is Both False & Dangerous

Eric Zuesse

Image source.

It’s false because it is definitely untrue, and that’s not merely because America has a higher percentage of its residents in prison than does any other nation on this planet, but also because the only scientific studies that have been done of the matter show — they prove scientifically — that the US is a dictatorship by its very wealthiest residents, against all the rest of the population. Traditionally, that’s called an “aristocracy,” not a democracy, but ever since Mussolini in the 1920s, it came to be called “fascism,” which is the successor to “feudalism” and thus is merely the modernized form of feudalism.

What used to be called by such terms as “monarchy” or “aristocracy” is thus now called “fascism” but the leopard is the same regardless of what it is labeled, and what it really is is dictatorship. Mussolini sometimes instead called fascism “corporationism” and it certainly is today’s United States Government, even if some people choose to call it ‘democracy’. It’s what the US Government has been scientifically proven to be: dictatorship, by the richest few (the controlling owners of the international corporations), against the entire public.

But even worse than being only false, calling the US a ‘democracy’ is also itself extremely dangerous to the entire world, and here is why:

Every time that the US perpetrates a coup (such as it’s trying now to do against Venezuela) or a military invasion (such as it did to Iraq 2003 and Libya 2011 and Syria 2012- and to Yemen 2015-, and many others) the US regime and its propagandists call it an action ‘for humanitarian purposes’, and for regime-change ‘to bring democracy and human rights’ to that country, and it’s always lies, which wouldn’t even be believed by anyone who knows that the US itself is actually a dictatorship, which it is.

So, the lie of calling the US a ‘democracy’ is actually okaying a lying dictatorship by using, for it, the term “democracy,” which this particular dictatorship chooses to refer to itself, for PR purposes.

Calling the US a ‘democracy’ is to support this government that the entire world (in the only polls that have been done of the matter) recognizes to be the most aggressive and dangerous regime on Earth.

To smear the good name of “democracy” that way, by calling the world’s most rapacious Government a ‘democracy’, is to assist in corroding that high term of praise, “democracy,” and turning it instead into an insult, which applies to what is actually the globally recognized most aggressive and dangerous nation on this planet.

The United States of America used to be a limited democracy, but now it’s no longer even that, and to call it a ‘democracy’ at all is not only false, but it encourages the world’s most dangerous and harmful regime and sets it as a model for other nations. To encourage evil by lying to say it’s not that but is instead good, is itself evil, or else rabidly ignorant and deceived; but, in any case, it is a very wrong thing to do.

On March 7th the liberal US billionaire who owns Bloomberg News was so much opposed to the over-the-top, far too overtly fascist, billionaires who now control the country, so that Bloomberg News headlined “Pence Asked Merkel to Provoke Russia by Sending Warships to Crimea”, and their reporters opened:

The US leaned on German Chancellor Angela Merkel last month to conduct a naval maneuver in Russia’s backyard aimed at provoking President Vladimir Putin, according to three people familiar with the talks. At a Feb. 16 meeting at the Munich Security Conference, US Vice President Mike Pence urged Merkel to send German warships through a narrow channel between the Crimean peninsula and mainland Russia to show Putin that Western powers won’t surrender their access to those waters, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The German leader refused, they said.

On March 8th, RT (a reliably truthful news-site that the US regime calls ‘fake news’ because it reports truths the US rulers don’t want the public to know) headlined “Caving in to the US? Brussels kills its own money laundering ‘blacklist’ after Washington criticism” and reported that the US regime objected to the EU’s European Commission including in its proposed list of 11 additional money-laundering centers four US territories, after which “the Council of the European Union, which consists of the ministers representing all 28 EU members, justified its decision to reject the document with the arguments that seemed strikingly similar to those employed by the US Treasury.”

Page 11 of the European Commission’s 36-page detailed explanation of its proposed list said:

Based on the review of additional information sources, the Commission’s analysis has concluded that 11 additional jurisdictions present strategic deficiencies for the purposes of Article 9 of Directive (EU) 2015/849. Those jurisdictions are the following: Afghanistan, American Samoa, Guam, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Panama, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia, US Virgin Islands, Samoa.”

The objective of the additions was to make more difficult the laundering of proceeds from crime. A legal advisory from a law firm representing US international corporations explained that:

The US Treasury Department has objected to the inclusion of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands on the grounds that the European Commission did not follow the methodology used by FATF in developing its own list of high-risk third countries, and that FATF standards apply to all US territories.”

Supposedly, the methodology of FATF was more ‘transparent’ than that set forth in the European Commission’s 36-page detailed explanation of its proposed 11 additions. The European Council arrived at its rejection of the 11 additions to the list on the grounds that “The consultation ended on 28 February 2019, with the required majority of delegations having declared their intention to object to the delegated act in question, in particular on the basis that the act was not established in a sufficiently transparent way.”

The European Council thus accepted without question the US regime’s undocumented allegation that the US regime’s chosen methodology is more ‘transparent’ than the European Commission’s is.

In a press release, the European Council justified its decision on the grounds that it “cannot support the current proposal that was not established in a transparent and resilient process that actively incentivises affected countries to take decisive action while also respecting their right to be heard.”

In short: BS. How can either the US regime, or the one in the EU, reasonably claim to be ‘transparent’? It’s ridiculous. That’s merely a relationship between the imperial nation and its vassal-states. They’re all dictatorships, they’re a hierarchy of dictatorships. But only the US dictatorship has been scientifically proven.

Anyone who opposes America’s dictatorship of the world will call the US regime what it is: a dictatorship. This cat is now out of the bag and roaming wildly, almost everywhere, trying now even for Venezuela, the Kerch Strait and the South China Sea.

Calling the South China Sea and Kerch Strait ‘disputed waters’ is like calling the surrounding waters of the US ‘disputed waters’; but only the international bully-regime is deliberately trying to “provoke” other nations in order to get them to buckle to its international dictatorship — which is the US regime, which regime Obama had called “the one indispensable nation,” meaning that all others are ‘dispensable’. It’s clearly not only Trump that’s the problem. It’s the regime, which is the dictatorship, and it outlasts any particular ruler.

The US is no democracy. It clearly is a dictatorship, by its richest. To call that a ‘democracy’, is to insult democracy itself. Maybe America’s actual rulers would therefore like that.

Originally posted at strategic-culture.org

SUPPORT OFFGUARDIAN

If you enjoy OffG's content, please help us make our monthly fund-raising goal and keep the site alive.

For other ways to donate, including direct-transfer bank details click HERE.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

44 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
David Eire
David Eire
Mar 19, 2019 11:39 PM

We should normalize referring to the US ruling class and system as the Washington Regime

Michael McNulty
Michael McNulty
Mar 19, 2019 11:43 AM

The next Nazi regime won’t be speaking German, it will speak English with an American accent.

Tahau Taua
Tahau Taua
Mar 19, 2019 10:10 AM

I’ve been calling the USA, a “Military Regime”; for quite some time. Gone, are all references to a US Government. It’s about time, everybody else; starts doing likewise.

The 2019 EIU (The Economist Intelligence Unit) Democracy Index places the USA; at #25 (and falling) on a scale that puts, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand and Denmark, in the top 5 respectively.

George Cornell
George Cornell
Mar 19, 2019 11:48 AM
Reply to  Tahau Taua

There are two current issues which could have been especially good mine shaft canaries, were it not for the fact that the foul odours pervading the US have made this metaphor unusable.

The first is the Jeff Epstein affair, following close on the heels of Michael Cohen being sent to a prison specially engineered for Jewish criminals. Apparently he can get special food there too. Epstein, a convicted pedophile and purveyor of sexual services to the Queen’s son and many of the great and good, according to his several dozen victims, is about to have his sealed (why? To protect those poor under aged victims? Laughable) file re-opened. His statutory rape of several other young teens and then selling/trading their services was not enough. Was there enough revulsion at his behaviour and his hotelier-crafted sentence in a country where black men wallow in prison, with life terms for robbing a convenience store to feed their families? Don’t be silly, but Miami Herald a notable exception take a bow. And where were you WaPo, and NYT? Says it all, really.

Epstein’s few months in a hotel, but just at night, for underage, rape, pimping, perjury and libel, seems light by comparison. But then Bill Clinton is listed as a passenger on Epstein’s private jet a mere 26x.
So it’s easy-peasy, if you know how. Forget the vagaries of a trial, capricious juries, annoying reporters, and judges with children and consciences. Just get a corrupt prosecutor. What it took for a soupçon of justice to be reconsidered was that Epstein’s prosecutor be appointed to Trump’s cabinet and the Dems being willing to do anything to embarrass him, even bringing justice to sexually abused children. And in legal terms, for the overconfident prosecutors to have broken the law by not telling the victims of their skullduggery.

The second is Boeing being allowed to be an FAA surrogate to inspect their own planes and ignoring warnings about them. People outside the US should be giving careful consideration to buying American goods. The country is corrupt much more deeply than these two cases illustrate, and the human victims, invaded countries aside, are piling up. The canaries, had anyone thought to set them out, are no longer available or informative.They would have had their day, when the Americans started flouting international law and breaking the treaties they had signed, but the Americans would have said they were only sleeping. They died a very long time ago, and no one needs a canary when the stench of decay is almost unbearable. An army of internists cannot save the day. It will require a lot more than that. The American crimes just escalate. Good for China to have blown this whistle. I can just imagine the dismissal of a few hundred Ethiopian and Indonesian deaths as “collateral damage” inconveniently impeding America’s manifest destiny of owning everything. Let’s see how they weasel out of this one. We may need to read the Miami Herald to find out.

Martin Usher
Martin Usher
Mar 19, 2019 5:35 AM

This discussion is missing something that’s very important because it talks about the US’s Federal government as if this is the only governing body in the US. Obviously to residents of some foreign country that’s just been hit with the “sanctions du jour” or maybe an outbreak of “freedom and democracy” this is the only bit of the US that matters but to people who actually live here both State and local government have a huge influence on how we live.

The other part of government that’s not obvious is the large number of interlocking jurisdictions that often are at odd with each other. Trump and his supporters tend to dismiss this as the so-called “Deep State” but a more realistic idea of how things function is that its a form of organized anarchy because its both disorganized and at the same time orchestrated. Its disorganization allows anyone with an idea and access to money the ability to run riot in other peoples’ countries (spreading “freedom and democracy”, evangelicalism or organized hate) and claiming that anyone who stops them is impinging on their “human rights”. Orchestration is a bit like the political leadership to lead this much as a conductor leads and orchestra. Films like “The Good Shepherd” or “Charlie Wilson’s War” (or even “Wag the Dog”) can serve as propaganda but also as a warning because with the passage of time we know just how much damage can be done by people who think they might be doing the right thing for the right reasons.

John2o2o
John2o2o
Mar 19, 2019 12:29 PM
Reply to  Martin Usher

You sound like an American in denial. (Who in America is not?).

I suppose it’s hard to accept the reality of the United States regime when you are pummelled from dawn to dusk by USMSM propaganda (lies) telling you just how great your “democracy” and your “American values” are.

David Eire
David Eire
Mar 19, 2019 2:24 AM

There was a Princeton study a few years back which reported that “the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy”. Nonetheless there is some democracy still in the United States; afterall Trump won and that was not supposed to happen. I would say the US is a classical Republic; in other words an oligarchy or plutocracy.

Wilmers31
Wilmers31
Mar 19, 2019 1:45 AM

I am not so sure that I care what the US call themselves. What I care about is their undue and damaging influence they have on others.

It made no difference to me whether it was the East Berlin communists or the Bonn democrats under US re-unification guidance who caused the loss of our land Prenzlauer Promenade 191. Since then, assisted by Bush I, I detest that influence and the country.

Now the Christchurch event is used for more censorship and blocking sites like zerohedge.

HoneyMustard del Queso
HoneyMustard del Queso
Mar 18, 2019 11:51 PM

Just to nitpick, a true democracy would mean a vote for every citizen, no means-testing, no taking it away. Unless there are some countries that have done away with a minimum age, I can’t imagine any current country is more than 80% a democracy, depending on how young or old their population is. It’s weird to me that the idea of true universal suffrage is so reviled by almost all ideologies.

One of the dumbest rhetorical things the MSM pundits and politicos do lately is: The same ones who insist the Iraq War was good because it brought democracy to the country; on other occasions continue to trot out the “Israel is the only democracy in the region” line. Can’t have it both ways, jackasses!

hotrod31
hotrod31
Mar 19, 2019 5:19 AM

Just an observation, if I may; There are no true democratic governments on this earth, just as there are no true communist governments on this earth.

Israel would be a putrid example to try to use as they have more than 1.5 million people in their concentration camp, viz. Gaza/West Bank.

John2o2o
John2o2o
Mar 19, 2019 12:34 PM

What is “democracy”?

The will of the people? The will of the majority of the people? The will of the “right” people?

At best it’s a compromise. A way for the masses to exert some degree of control over the elites that dominate their lives.

It’s a very imperfect system, whoever administers it.

Yasmin
Yasmin
Mar 19, 2019 8:26 PM
Reply to  John2o2o

The spirit of the ‘demos’ is that of the mob. Very few Athenians were citizens.

Frankly Speaking
Frankly Speaking
Mar 18, 2019 7:58 PM

I’ll keep it simple: the USA has unfortunately transformed from one of the leading democracies to become a truly fascist State where there’s no differentiation between corporations and government.

One of thousands of examples is the relationship between Boeing and the FAA which has resulted in Boeing self-certifying safety critical designs and systems…the results of which we can witness in the Lionair and Ethiopean airlines tragedies amongst many others; utterly despicable.

John2o2o
John2o2o
Mar 19, 2019 12:38 PM

“USA has unfortunately transformed from one of the leading democracies”

I strongly challenge that assertion. Native Americans suffered very greatly under this “leading democracy”.

Your comment unfortunately demonstrates the power of US state propaganda.

George Barbarie
George Barbarie
Mar 18, 2019 2:24 PM

I largely agree, especially with recognizing the neo-feudal characteristics in late-stage capitalism and the governing structures that serve/benefit from it.

My only quibble is with the “corporationism” reference.

When Mussolini used the term “corporativismo,” he was referring to a type of social structure in which the state subdivides a society into professional and industrial groups that appear to be autonomous constituencies but are strictly managed in order to effect the state’s will.

In our situation, the corporations/oligarchs/plutocrats/ruling classes are usually calling the shots, and states/governments (from “democracies” to dictatorships) fall in line. States/governments act merely as vehicles for those entities, entities which are themselves vehicles of capital. At the very least, the “corporatocracy” and states are symbiotic, but always answering to the same master (capital).

I only bring this up because critics of anti-fascism and anti-capitalism will home in on the use of the term, intentionally misconstruing a valid point and thus shutting down meaningful discussion. (I’ve experienced it firsthand.)

Steve Cooke
Steve Cooke
Mar 18, 2019 10:34 AM

Hello. That the USA is not a democracy is a valid proposition and a good example of why is the electoral college system used to appoint presidents where a vote takes place but legally in many States it is largely symbolic and that’s even before we consider that electors a political appointments. The reason I mention this is that the argument put forward in this article is too broad and needs to narrow its focus on the structural and factual reasons why the USA is not a democracy (or even a Republic) rather than abstractions. Once the root issues have been identified – steps can then be taken – and pressure bought to bear – to remedy the flaws – and bring power back to the people.

Jen
Jen
Mar 18, 2019 10:30 AM

Dear Eric,

I think the term you want is “kakistocracy” (rule by the worst, least qualified and most unscrupulous citizens).The term has been used to describe the US intermittently since 1980 at least but it could just as well have been applied to previous administrations before then.

Jams O'Donnell
Jams O'Donnell
Mar 18, 2019 8:23 PM
Reply to  Jen

Or ‘Oligarchy’ – rule by the rich.

Jams O'Donnell
Jams O'Donnell
Mar 18, 2019 8:27 PM
Reply to  Jams O'Donnell

Sorry – ‘Plutocracy” – rule by the rich. ‘Oligarchy’ – rule by the few.

Dave Hayman
Dave Hayman
Mar 18, 2019 8:45 PM
Reply to  Jen

My opinion: the US is not a dictatorship: who is the dictator? Trump isn’t smart or disciplined enough to be a dictator. If an ideology could be a dictator then capitalism is our Supreme Leader.
Though the US, when created in the late 18th century, was not a democracy by the present definition (no votes for blacks, women, poor, Native Americans, etc), it was in improvement over the feudal regimes dominant at the time. It is more accurately a plutocracy (rule by the rich). Around Reagan time it devolved into a kleptocracy (rule by thieves), and with Trump a futher slump into kakistocracy (rule by monsters, or the worst people).

olavleivar
olavleivar
Mar 18, 2019 10:20 AM

SPOT ON ! ……And because most of the European Nations do as they are commanded by the USA …
…. THEY ARE DICTATORSHIPS … TOO !…. Didnt we know it !

G D'ARCY
G D'ARCY
Mar 18, 2019 9:05 AM

No difference from this shit hole people are thick and unable to think for them selves, they’re lead by the elite, who call the elite for wanting to come out of the EU, one of the main proponents of leaving is Johnson, is he an elite :The £51,250 payment was published in the most recent MPs’ Register of Interests. It is the latest in a line of earnings the former foreign secretary has enjoyed since leaving the cabinet.

In November 2018, the MP received £94,507.85 from GoldenTree Asset Management for a two hour speech. Then in December that year, Johnson registered a more modest £28,900 for another two hour speaking shift. He also received a donation of £10,000 from JCB just three days before giving a speech at its headquarters on 18 January.

As well as continued royalties from his book, Johnson is being paid over £275,000 a year for his weekly Telegraph column. According to the MP’s returns, earnings from the deal total around £2,291 an hour.

Some Random Passer-by
Some Random Passer-by
Mar 18, 2019 12:50 PM
Reply to  G D'ARCY

This is how corruption operates in the West, and we Brits are the best at it.

No seedy, tacky, offensive brown envelopes rammed with cash to be seen here.

Just obscene payments for the smallest amount of “work” possible. Take Osborne for example, nine jobs George? Or is it seven? Either way, it’s rotten to the core.

Best example I know of though is John Major. Wasn’t a millionaire, even whilst PM. Became one within six months of leaving the post…

Francis Lee
Francis Lee
Mar 18, 2019 8:09 AM

The United States is a (declining) empire. It cannot therefore be a democracy. Empires and Democracies do not mix; we’ve learned that from the Athenians and its still true today. But what do the lumpen-oligarchies and their sheep-like ‘citizens’ know or care about history and what it teaches. Ignorance of history consigns nations to the dustbin of history.

wardropper
wardropper
Mar 18, 2019 4:12 PM
Reply to  Francis Lee

Indeed, a declining empire.
But just look at the mess its decline is leaving in its wake.
We also need to address that.

vexarb
vexarb
Mar 18, 2019 5:50 AM

When posting re Uncle $cam I have occasionally referred to the regime as a Classical Aristotelean Plutocracy when in polite mood, but more usually as a modern Kleptocracy.

vexarb
vexarb
Mar 18, 2019 5:54 AM
Reply to  vexarb

PS And I have never, ever referred to members of that Kleptocracy as belonging to “the Elite” — except in the strict sense of “les Elus” the Chosen People.

Antonym
Antonym
Mar 18, 2019 5:13 AM

In general “on the money”.

Exception for Donald Trump, a billionaire became president while not being wanted by the Establishment.

Makropulos
Makropulos
Mar 18, 2019 8:18 AM
Reply to  Antonym

First, any billionaire is already part of the Establishment. Second, although Trump may not be what PART of the Establishment were planning for – since he is departing from that carefully assembled liberal tolerance script – another part were always comfortable with him. And now ALL the Establishment, being faced with the unavoidable fact of Trump’s presidency, have modified their plans to utilise Trump. Same old goals, new face.

Antonym
Antonym
Mar 18, 2019 8:26 AM
Reply to  Makropulos

The Establishment is definitely trying to bend over Trump for their dominance (Venezuela). Isn’t your comment helping them?

Makropulos
Makropulos
Mar 18, 2019 4:59 PM
Reply to  Antonym

I doubt if the Establishment give a flying one about what I personally am doing. Also I appreciate that Trump has made certain comments (e.g. about the manipulations of the media) which are true. Indeed he or, to be more precise, the fact that he won the election, has blown a hole in that sickening phoney liberal “leftism” propagated by the Democrats. But none of this turns Trump into some kind of revolutionary force. Overall, the schisms in the American ruling class have been very revealing. But ultimately they all represent the same monied interests.

John2o2o
John2o2o
Mar 19, 2019 12:44 PM
Reply to  Antonym

I think you mean the Neocons.

John A
John A
Mar 18, 2019 3:17 PM
Reply to  Antonym

Trump is a billionaire in the same way that Robert Maxwell was. Very opaque business empire, loads of different companies and ownership structures, loads of company bankruptcies, shuffling money round, dodgy bank dealings etc., etc.
The only real difference between Trump and Maxwell was that Trump inherited millions to start with from daddy, while Maxwell used his links in Europe to build up his empire on the rubble of war ravaged Europe.

George Cornell
George Cornell
Mar 18, 2019 6:05 PM
Reply to  Antonym

It was just that the Dems were so arrogant they thought they would landslide their way in on the dorsal fin of the dreaded Hillary. The voter had the ultimate Hobson’s choice. And they chose the poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

Michael McNulty
Michael McNulty
Mar 19, 2019 11:53 AM
Reply to  George Cornell

Trump or Clinton. Worst or Worstest.

dhfabian
dhfabian
Mar 18, 2019 4:49 AM

One common falsehood seen here: The US is not “the 1% vs. the 99%.” We’re rich vs,. middle class vs. poor. Since ’90s, we stripped our “surplus population” — those not of current use to employers — of the most basic human rights to food and shelter. This was by the demand of the middle class. As the overall life expectancy of the US poor fell below that of every developed nation, those considered “progressives” just shrug, moved on to other issues. This defines our social dynamics today.

Yossi
Yossi
Mar 18, 2019 7:25 AM
Reply to  dhfabian

Michael Ventura on Class.

“The U.S. Oligarchy can’t be described with classifications such as upper, middle, and lower class. Oligarchy divides society (with amazing success!) into rigid strata or tiers.
Top Tier is the “highest degree of authority … free from control.”
To think the Top Tier acts in concert is to underestimate how viciously and constantly its components compete among themselves. An oligarchy is more like a clan: They argue with each other but unite against the Other – that “other,” in this case, being everyone else.
Beneath the Top Tier is the Professional Tier. An oligarchy depends on professionals. The Professional Tier is highly paid and dependably subservient: politicians (up to the highest level), lawyers, doctors, shrinks, scientists, engineers, financiers, real estate magnates, communicators (high visibility print and broadcast types, especially), generals, spooks, high-level bureaucrats (governmental and commercial), large-scale entrepreneurs, top-scale entertainers, university deans and professors (not lowly teachers), and experts of all kinds, be they specialists in meteorology, tax codes, or fashion design. Doesn’t matter whether they’re liberal or conservative. A liberal lawyer, doctor, scientist, or inventor is as useful to capital-“O” Oligarchy as a conservative one because the notion that “liberal” or “conservative” belief matters is delusional in Oligarchy. As long as professionals perform their function, their personal belief is as beside the point as what they eat for breakfast.
Oligarchy pays the Professional Tier plenty – so much so, in fact, that they are socially cut off from the tiers beneath them. Which is the point. Money is nothing to the Top Tier. Pay the Professional Tier in six figures, and that, alone, effectively cuts them off from the majority. The Professional Tier works for its own interests, and its main interest is that six-figure salary. Individually, they may do good works. That doesn’t change the equation. Socially, they associate only with one another and dutifully perform the functions necessary within the terms and limits of how Oligarchy defines “success.” Their attachment to affluence makes the Professional Tier co-conspirators in spite of themselves.
Beneath the Professional Tier is the Skilled Service Tier. Every function that cannot be outsourced is of the Skilled Service Tier. Soldiers and lower officers of the military, middle management in commerce and government, plumbers, hairdressers, electricians, techs of all kinds, cops, nurses, landscapers, construction workers, truck drivers, mechanics, K-to-12 teachers, folks who command the clothing or toy or furniture departments at Wal-Mart: They don’t set policy. They carry it out.
The Skilled Service Tier is economically and socially cut off from the Professional Tier and light years distant from the Top Tier. Their paychecks are usually large enough to make many believe they’re “getting ahead” but usually low enough to keep them from that imagined goal.
Below the Skilled Service Tier is the tier many of them command, the Unskilled Service Tier: waitresses, clerks, cabdrivers, temps, floor-moppers, bedmakers, night watchmen, delivery people, and the like, who, at best, barely scrape by.
Those beneath the Unskilled Service Tier are Spare Parts – a tier all its own, constantly in flux between desperation and work (often two or three jobs) amongst the Unskilled Service Tier.
In American parlance, the Professional and Skilled Service tiers are lumped together as the “middle class.” Nothing could be further from the truth. In larger cities, these tiers don’t live in the same neighborhoods and are socially cut off from one another. The Unskilled Service and Spare Parts tiers are what used to be called “working class”; in reality, their social function is to be so financially insecure that anyone above their status is frightened of sinking down to become their neighbors.
We still call it the United States, but in the American Oligarchy each tier is anything but united. Each tier lives in a different country, with different laws, customs, education, assumptions, interests, and drastically different options. What the tiers mainly have in common is that they socialize only with those in their own tier.
The social distance between tiers is the cement of Oligarchy. Socially separate tiers cannot act in concert. Only action in concert effects structural change and threatens Oligarchy.
Oligarchy thrives on a truth articulated by Thomas Pynchon in Gravity’s Rainbow: “If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about the answers.”
Oligarchy takes different forms in different countries, but its purpose is always to suck the lion’s share of resources upward for the benefit of what I’ve called the Top Tier.”

You’re welcome.

Fair dinkum
Fair dinkum
Mar 18, 2019 8:29 AM
Reply to  Yossi

Succinct and spot on Michael Ventura.
It’s the same in most Western nations, although the US is clearly the leader when it comes to the dark art of exploitation.
The only justice is that we all die.
Forever.

Gold Plated Turd
Gold Plated Turd
Mar 18, 2019 12:44 PM
Reply to  Fair dinkum

In that case it is clearly apparent that you are dead already – welcome to eternity

Fair dinkum
Fair dinkum
Mar 19, 2019 8:12 AM

I speak from the grave Mister Turd.

Bartleby
Bartleby
Mar 18, 2019 6:04 PM
Reply to  Fair dinkum

“The Halls of Justice. The only Justice is in the Halls”–Lenny Bruce

intergenerationaltrauma
intergenerationaltrauma
Mar 19, 2019 5:39 AM
Reply to  Yossi

yossi – (“Oligarchy thrives on a truth articulated by Thomas Pynchon in Gravity’s Rainbow: “If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about the answers.”) – great quote from Pynchon. Thanks.

George Cornell
George Cornell
Mar 18, 2019 6:14 PM
Reply to  dhfabian

Actually longevity in the US = that in Cuba, despite the US imposing embargoes leading to epidemic nutritional blindness. Cuba spends 1/10th that of the US on health care. But as one of my Amerkun acquaintances nudge-nudged to me, we live just as long as the Northern Europeans, if you don’t count the Blacks. Kinda makes you feel glad to be human, outside the US. Democracy? My Aunt Fanny’s fanny, in the American sense, of course.

mark
mark
Mar 18, 2019 6:30 PM
Reply to  dhfabian

The “middle class” don’t exist any more. They are ancient history. They have been hollowed out and ground down into a lumpenproletariat lorded over by the 0.01%. All that they once benefited from, reasonable pay and benefits, job security, pensions, some degree of status, vanished long ago. There is nothing left. Just the new serfdom.