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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsStudy: American public has ‘virtually no influence’ over politics in face of wealthy interest groups
Researchers at Princeton University and Northwestern University compared the publics influence on 1,779 policy issues between 1981 and 2002, finding that more often than not, the interests of wealthy groups and individuals won out over the demands of the general public. For instance, when 80 percent of the public asked for a change of some sort, they got their way only about 43 percent of the time.
The study, its authors say, points to the overwhelming power of wealthy lobbying groups and individuals backing certain interests in American politics, and the marginalization of voters and public advocacy groups.
I expected to find that ordinary Americans had a modest degree of influence over government policy and that mass-based interest groups would serve to promote those interests, Martin Gilens, a political scientist at Princeton and a co-author of the study, wrote in an email to Al Jazeera.
What we found instead was that ordinary Americans have virtually no influence over government policy and that mass-based interest groups as a whole do not reliably side with the wishes of the average citizen.
THE REST:
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/4/16/oligarchy-politicsus.html
ladjf
(17,320 posts)when it comes to influencing public policy? nt
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)ladjf
(17,320 posts)I'm afraid she is not going to be willing and able to do enough to turn this terrible situation around.
The job is going to take more than a competent President.
Maedhros
(10,007 posts)The system works really well for her.
ladjf
(17,320 posts)I was thinking about the major changes that need to be made in the U.S. political system. It's currently a dangerous and unfair mess.
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)erronis
(15,382 posts)Fixed it.
kelliekat44
(7,759 posts)It all depends on who uses their vote and who is denied the right to vote.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)WhiteTara
(29,728 posts)this is correct.
Katashi_itto
(10,175 posts)WhiteTara
(29,728 posts)to stick one's head in the over...after blowing out the pilot light.
merrily
(45,251 posts)There's a lot of territory between GOTV and suicide.
WhiteTara
(29,728 posts)that says we have no chance no matter what. So, I was wondering if the poster thought it was time for plan b. I'm still working on the GOTV. We'll see which wins out in the end.
merrily
(45,251 posts)I believe in GOTV in an almost religious article of faith way. Nonetheless, I think we need more than that. Not carbon monoxide, though!
WhiteTara
(29,728 posts)this are designed to make sure we feel so hopeless that we sit out the elections. Of course, the poster I was responding too can't vote as s/he lives in Japan. They have their own morass of desperation there too.
TheKentuckian
(25,029 posts)that voting is not nearly enough and sure as hell just voting for the letter D without making it mean something won't begin to cut it.
The cure for desperation is not delusion but to alleviate the source of the distress and the measuring stick can't be a brood of theocratic, racist, stupids but rather the beneficial resolution of our tribulations. "Better than the Republican" is a nothing, a cop out. Wouldn't one have to work like John Henry to not be?
WhiteTara
(29,728 posts)it's like a board of supervisors and we'll see what happens there.
merrily
(45,251 posts)I once met a woman in her 70s who became a naturalized citizen of the US, thanks to her employer's helping her out and, maybe also her daughter. The daughter had married an American serviceman very briefly and become a US as a result of the marriage. She still lives in the US and her own daughter was born here. The status of her daughter and granddaughter may have weighed in on someone's heart strings, but I don't think has anything to do with the older woman being legally entitled to citizenship. So, I think it was the employer.
Anyway, this older lived in the US all of maybe 3 years out of her entire life, years ago, while allegedly doing work here for her employer, which may, at that time, have been a US corporation. For all the rest of her life, she lived in the Middle East, mostly Lebanon. She never intended to remain in the US permanently--and her employer knew that. So, I don't know why she didn't get a work visa instead of citizenship.
Nonetheless, she has, for years, voted Republican in every election by absentee ballot. Her daughter is winger, too. Both have very harsh things to say about liberals, Israel and Jews, etc. (and the Gore Lieberman ticket, but they were Republican long before that).
I wanted to spit nails when she told me she always votes Republican by absentee ballot.
WhiteTara
(29,728 posts)merrily
(45,251 posts)maybe when it comes to exploiting the system, then playing victim and never taking personal responsibility for a thing.
The granddaughter was a skinhead at one point. The mother was distraught.
The kid didn't lick it from the grass, though.
merrily
(45,251 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)Just sayin.
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)Nice to be optimistic, but don't delude yourself.
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)kath
(10,565 posts)Was going to say: File under " No Shit, Sherlock".
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)Ron Obvious
(6,261 posts)Are those who are benefitting from it. There's the fundamental problem with politics today. It should be an issue that cuts across all demographics and political views and unite us all, but the 1% have bought off the media and that message isn't getting out.
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)LittleBlue
(10,362 posts)I don't want to hear any crying if our turnout is low in the fall.
Millions believe that voting doesn't matter, and studies are beginning to back up what we already suspected.
kath
(10,565 posts)Fair elections. We have only the illusion of democracy.
BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)It explains why a candidates promises are nothing like his actions while governing. It explains why even those we thought were one of "the good guys" chooses to look forward and take crimes off the table. Why there have been no criminal prosecutions on wall street and why oil companies that decimate the Gulf are not forced to pay for the cleanup and are given drilling permits shortly after. If we don't figure out a way to get a handle on this issue, then all the other things we need to get the country back on track will be impossible. All the other problems such as energy policy, education, taxation, you name it, all of them are just symptoms, but money in politics is a disease.
DanTex
(20,709 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)On election day 2016, it will be her or Fat Bastard/JEB/Walker/Perry/... So there we'll be, voting for TPP and XL and charter schools.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)to vote, we must be free. Plez dont shatter that illusion. If nothing else I am at least writing in Ralph Nader. Ooops I said the N word and the posse will be here soon.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)progressivebydesign
(19,458 posts)Is there a mouse in your pocket?
MrScorpio
(73,631 posts)The hardest thing to do is to make it perish from the Earth, by replacing it with a Democracy.
1000words
(7,051 posts)dharmamarx
(58 posts)The American working class is unfortunately organized through the Democratic Party. (This website itself reflects that problem.) We define our problems based on what the Democrats talk about, and we forget about issues they ignore. We hope that simply electing a new Democrat will fix those problems, and it never really does. We haven't recognized that this is not the 1950s-1970s, and that the Democratic Party no longer cares about the working class because the working class is no longer organized and threatening the establishment. The Soviet Union, whatever you think of it, was tremendously successful at shaming the Western capitalist countries into adopting New Deal-style welfare states. No USSR, no Socialist Party of America, no militant labor unions: No progressive politics. The solution isn't really that we need to vote for non-Democrats, but rather that we need to get organized independently of the Democrats, define our own agenda, and begin to take over the electoral system with candidates pledged to our agenda.
dreamnightwind
(4,775 posts)If you are new here, welcome to DU.
I hadn't really considered the angle you brought up where the socialist threat helped win concessions in the U.S. from the wealthy. Makes sense.
Organization has always been a talent the right has over the left. They're better at linear thinking, top-down structures that successfully target narrow objectives and then they have the funding to build the infrastructure to deliver the desired change.
The left has always been more about herding cats from one interest group to another, trying to keep people focused on the issue at hand rather than splintering into a thousand loose affinity groups. And most of it is done by underpaid, overworked volunteers who have precious little spare time for activism, struggling just to keep their day jobs and make a living. Paid staff is either non-existent or just enough to coordinate events and fundraising efforts.
I had always hoped the internet would be the great equalizer, that the tech-savvy left would find ways to use it to coordinate actions and screen out corporate candidates who will only sell us out. So far I have seen sites like DU and Kos that are good for discussion and promotion of party ideology but not good at mobilizing action nor at promoting candidates that will serve the non-elites. In fact they may serve the opposite, they take a lot of time from members who read, comment and argue but don't organize for substantive change.
NGOs use the internet to good effect, using online petitions and action alerts, though for the most part they use the web for their own fundraising. Also most of them have too little funding to effectively mobilize against powerful monied interests, though what little good that does happens often happens from their efforts.
I think there is room for a new web site, or several, that work specifically to crowd-source actions and to promote (and fund) candidates who will support the issues of aggregated small donors in the same way our current reps support the issues of the large donors.
Obama in 2008 received roughly half of his campaign money from small donors, yet when he took office it was the large corporate donors and their interests who got their policies pushed by his administration. That's not particular to Obama, it's actually typical, a large corporate donor gets legislation while the small donors get attention in proportion to their individual donation rather than in proportion to the aggregate of the small donors who chipped in. Perhaps this could be improved on by using an aggregator that would manage the donations and use their influence en masse to leverage policy from our representatives in government.
I know there are many groups working along these lines, but I also know that we're losing this battle in a big way, so we need to keep re-inventing how small fish can pool their resources to get what they want from government.
WHEN CRABS ROAR
(3,813 posts)What we need is a strong progressive populist general strike, unfortunately we don't have the numbers or a platform, to make it work.
RandoLoodie
(133 posts)has a populist movement bubbling among all the certified reactionary nut bars.
amazing.
mike_c
(36,281 posts)Torches and pitchforks, or another FDR.
moondust
(20,017 posts)in, say, Denver?
pangaia
(24,324 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)but wont fix anything. In a violent revolution the people would need the help of thugs to win and then the thugs would take over.
But I go along with your other choice. Elite Theory says that you will always have rule by the elite. There is no way around it. So we just need an elite group to understand that it is in their best interest not to let the masses get to the violent revolution stage because the ruling elite will most likely be worse off after such.
Prophet 451
(9,796 posts)The American public has been too placated by tv and religion and has been trained to direct their class resentment strictly downward. So that rules out pitchforks.
And FDR is ruled out by the simple fact that it takes big money, and teh corporate donors who have it, to get elected these days.
Corruption Inc
(1,568 posts)I'm sure they'll listen to the fact that they don't listen.
Shoulders of Giants
(370 posts)If your vote can be influenced by a 30 second ad paid for by a front group for a billionaire, than don't vote. I live in Illinois and keep seeing ads against the progressive tax. I think I've seen dozens of ads against it. Some of them lie and say it will raise taxes on everyone making over $18,000 a year. I've looked into it and learned its BS. However, I know many people won't but still vote. It really bothers me that billionaires can make these ads to trick people into voting against their own interests. Ultimately, billionaires have one vote just like the rest of us. However, when they pull these tricks, their voting powered is significantly amplified. So therefore, I think anyone who can be influenced by a 30 second ad, or doesn't know the issues, probably shouldn't vote at all.
dotymed
(5,610 posts)if only the MSM would report this everyday for at least a month........
Possibly MoveOn.org could buy advertising time during the "knuckle dragger" shows...
indepat
(20,899 posts)to the detriment of society: the proof is in their works.
davidn3600
(6,342 posts)Every election cycle we bet on a horse.
The rich simply bets on every horse in the race. So no matter what, they win.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)He who has the most gold makes the rules.
11 Bravo
(23,928 posts)He lied his ass off during the confirmation hearings, and now he's doing exactly what he was placed on the court to do.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)Historic NY
(37,454 posts)Last edited Tue Apr 22, 2014, 11:50 PM - Edit history (1)
they throw, then your giving them a pass. If you come out in strength the bastards have to spend more. I'd rather make them broke then surrender.......!!!!!!
defacto7
(13,485 posts)We'll never make them broke but if the message they are buying doesn't work because the public gets wise, then their money has no political value. I think the only hope we have is to make sure people are made well aware that their message is no less than laughable... and finally annoying.
slipslidingaway
(21,210 posts)wanted a national HC system and DEMS blocked the debate.
They did not even try to advance the issue
"Its not just your imagination: The influence of money in politics has indeed drowned out the voices of American voters, a new analysis shows, with runaway corporate lobbying and a lack of campaign finance reform to blame for giving much more political weight to the wealthy..."
AngryAmish
(25,704 posts)When Mark Zuckerberg and Carlos Slim want to expand immigration you know the people are gonna get hosed.
ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)but we should at least make them spend it. I'm still going to vote.
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)Because it's in the nature of cancers (in this instance GREED) to always kill it's host......
K&R
In other words, declarations of laws and rights are actually an acknowledgment of the failures of the social design. There is no such thing as 'rights' - as the reference can be altered at will. The fourth amendment is an attempt to protect against state power abuse, that is clear. But it avoids the real issue, and that is: Why would the state have an interest to search and seize to begin with? How do you remove the mechanisms that generate such behavior? We need to focus on the real cause.
We have to understand that government as we know it today, is not in place for the well being of the public, but rather for the perpetuation of their establishment and their power. Just like every other institution within a monetary system. Government is a monetary invention for the sake of economic and social control and its methods are based upon self-preservation, first and foremost. All a government can really do is to create laws to compensate for an inherent lack of integrity within the social order.
In society today the public is essentially kept distracted and uninformed. This is the way that governments maintain control. If you review history, power is maintained through ignorance.
~Peter Joseph
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)AnneD
(15,774 posts)water is wet....
I will add this. Even if you vote against these moneyed interests, it does no good if the politicians roll over on you. It has happened in the past, is currently happening and will happen in the future.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Wish Corporate McPravda would spread the word, but they're part of the problem.
progressoid
(50,000 posts)raouldukelives
(5,178 posts)The only influence we have is how supportive we wish to be of the corporations destroying our ecosystem and our democracy.
Every dollar invested in them is a call for more of the same and they use that money to drown out the people calling for progress, fighting for justice and working to GOTV for liberal candidates.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)by inviting their children to the White House and giving them all the policies they want.
We obviously can't FORCE them to do anything, so the next safest strategy is to be the cutest, most loyal pets we can possibly be.
KG
(28,753 posts)elect all the democrats you want.
but until, as a party, they view working people as their constituents rather than wall st, nothing is gonna change..
Triana
(22,666 posts)[IMG][/IMG]
Prophet 451
(9,796 posts)"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism as it is the union of state and corporate power" ~ Mussolini.
handmade34
(22,758 posts)Sunlei
(22,651 posts)Because it does, even at the local level. 'for profit' republicans on your school boards & in your small local gov? You are doomed and a slave to their local, very expensive, over-regulation.