![]() He also received $823,207 in campaign funds from the oil and gas industry. ![]() Why? Manchin, personally, makes roughly half a million dollars a year in dividends from coal company stock. According to the latest Gallup Poll, 73% of citizens are in favor of clean energy. They represent Big Pharma, not their constituents. All are opposed, along with many Republicans, to having Medicare negotiate prices with Big Pharma. Kurt Schrader (D-OR) received $433,178 (Kaiser Health News). Scott Peters (D-CA) received $541,400 since 2013 and Rep. Robert Menendez (D-CA) received $491,800. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) received $258,236 from the pharmaceutical industry and Sen. How do these donations correlate with congressional votes?Īlthough 88% of citizens favor allowing the federal government to negotiate for lower prices on medications according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll, this benefit was eliminated from Biden’s budget proposal. Indirectly, it consists of regulatory frameworks and programs designed to benefit the wealthy (e.g., Trump’s tax cut).Īccording to, it costs over $9.8 million to get elected to the Senate and over $2.3 million to get elected to the House, money that comes mostly from wealthy individuals, corporations, and PACs. Many of their votes seem to “follow the money” which leads to a form of government called an oligarchy or plutocracy which exists when a government is controlled by the wealthy, either directly or indirectly. If you follow the votes of those who “represent” us you will see an interesting pattern. The problem is that, in our current government, we, the people, the common people, are not truly represented. On the surface, it appears that we may be a democratic republic. Since we elect those who represent us, we can be considered a “democratic republic.” So, when Tim Walberg stated that he did not believe in democracy but, “I believe in a republic,” it is noteworthy that he did not say “democratic republic.” Consequently, the leaders need not be elected, which we see in many autocratic “republics” such as the People’s Republic of China and Cuba. The key concept to the word republic is that the leader of the government (or state) is not a hereditary monarch but, rather, someone who is elected or installed. Moreover, because of the strong status quo bias built into the US political system, even when fairly large majorities of Americans favour policy change, they generally do not get it.Perhaps we are a republic, which is a form of government that relies on the representation of the people rather than people representing themselves as in a pure democracy. government policies rarely align with the preferences of the majority of Americans, but do favour special interests and lobbying organizations: "When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites and/or with organized interests, they generally lose. The peer-reviewed study, which will be taught at these universities in September, says: "The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence." policies enacted in that period and comparing them to the expressed preferences of average Americans (50th percentile of income), affluent Americans (90th percentile), and large special interests groups, researchers concluded that the U.S. Kleptocracy: 'a society whose leaders make themselves rich and powerful by stealing from the rest of the people' (). political system.Īfter sifting through nearly 1,800 U.S. Oligarchy: 'a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes' (merriam- /dictionary ). ![]() ![]() The report, " Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens" (PDF), used extensive policy data collected between 19 to empirically determine the state of the U.S. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.
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