Government Dominated By Big Business

After the Civil war, large businesses ruled America. Prior to the industrial revolution, the government upheld a hands-off approach towards business. Under the laissez-faire principle, free, unregulated markets led to competition, yet this system suffered under the wrath of growing corporations. The impact of big business on the economy and politics was immense during 1870 to 1899. Corporations were growing significantly in number and size, which had a domineering affect on American economy and defined American life.

I agree with you, “Our Country is run not by oligarchs, but rather by an unholy marriage of big business and big

A question that is becoming increasingly relevant in the American political atmosphere is to what extent lobbyist play in the formation of American policy. Lobbyist help bring numerous issues to the forefront of American politics as well as help companies and groups obtain policies which favor their cause. According to CQ Researcher “ in 2004 a lobbying tax break bill in favor of large multinational corporations was funded through lobbyist through the sum of 1.8 million dollars , and by 2009 the bill had been reported to save over 120 million dollars for various businesses” (CQ Researcher 292). This bill passed by the extensive help of lobbyist exemplifies the sheer importance and political significance lobbyist play in American politics.

"Democracy requires that all citizens-rich and poor alike-have influence over the policies their government adopts" (Gilens 2012). This passage, which is the opening sentence of the piece, outlines what a democracy should and intends to do in any society. Unfortunately, due to corporate political power, more often than not, all citizens do not have influence over public good decisions. Public good is defined as a commodity or service provided to all members of a society for benefit, such as education, health care, transport, emergency services, etc. These decisions are being influenced by corporations and their money and therefore are not truly being made in the best interest of all citizens, but a select few. Because of this, corporate political

This group of elites can efficiently order the goals for all or nearly all significant government policy making. They may also lead the actions of educational organizations and mass media in today’s society. Their power can easily be seen by their financial resources and also on their rankings among the top of the big corporations, and believe it or not, it does not depend on whether or not they can gain large amounts of support through labors to embody interests and the good of social groups in the United States. The elitist theorists and a large portion of Americans believe, that this country cannot be run by powerless masses of average voters to chose a leader well fit to lead our nations in the right direction.

The influence of outside power in American politics has been around for a long time. It has manifested itself in the form of a spoils system made famous by Andrew Jackson, and the rise of trusts helping to finance elections, which started the precedent of corporate donations to campaigns. While the type of influence has shifted, there has been a trend for corporations to control more in government. This was made clear by the 2010 case Citizens United v. FEC, which lead to the rise of bigger political action committees (Super PACs) and eased regulations on money spending. In Philip Bump’s article “Jeb Bush and the first super PAC-run campaign”, he argues that Super PACs are a natural progression of how modern political campaigns are run. This is not completely false, but he makes no reference to the landmark Citizens United v. FEC, which is the true reason why PACs have risen so dramatically over the last few elections and how they could be cut out as easily as they were allowed in. This is the subject of Paul Blumenthal’s piece “Super PACs and Secret Money.”

Recent studies in the past year, one done by Harvard University, have both suggested and concluded that the United States of America is no longer a democracy, but an oligarchy. An oligarchy is a form of government in which the richest people have the most power. It dates back to the time of the first colonies. Part of the United States being reclassified as an oligarchy may be due to the amount of government bribes the nation has going on at the present time. In the last presidential election in 2012, there was talk about large corporations giving the political candidates campaign contributions in order to buy them and it is a commonly discussed topic as of this day.

In this day, the United States continues to debate over what it means to be a citizen, who are seen as citizens. One of these topics, which seems to be overlooked by most, is the role companies should have in the political process. Citizens are usually thought of as separate individuals, and so how businesses, which are made up these separate individuals, are affected by the same government is often forgotten. And from this comes the question of whether or not businesses should have a say in the political process. While it is a controversial topic concerning the extent of the role businesses should have in society, there is reason to believe businesses should be able to have a say in the political process because they are affected by the government

In today’s society everything seems to be centered around wealth and power. Whether you go to the grocery store, gym, or even the playground; people are judging others based on how much money they have or haven’t got. Within this web of power and money lies a pretty well hidden agenda. The people behind this hidden agenda are the C.E.O’s of major corporations, billionaire businessman who use their assets to ensure that their vote matter more than those who have less than them. Today the only thing that seems to matter within politics is how much money you have or , in the case of politicians, how many wealthy people you have donating to your campaign. “This is not a democracy. This is a dollarcracy.” (Nichols & McChesney, 2013, Pg 22).

There are several different theories and models used in general politics and the creation of public policies. These models and theories help to simplify the understanding of how some things work (Kraft and Furlong, 2013). According to the Elite Theory perception the general public has little to no impact on the regulation of public policies. All of the policy changing authority is within the elite population. The elite theory stresses the fact that partiality is given to the governing body of elites (Kraft and Furlong, 2013). The policy players in this group include financial

Living in the United States of America can give us a false sense of comfort in our democratic system. At the core of the democracy system is the belief that the voice of the people, either directly or through representative, is the defining power within the country. Due to the freedom within our culture, our economy has grown at unprecedented rates and to levels that exceed almost all other countries. However, because of the growth and size of industry their voices are also being heard and followed within our democratic system. These massive companies have lobbying power and can directly impact this country’s economy in either a positive or negative manor. Therefore, it is critical that these large companies act in an ethical manor

Through the latter part of the twentieth century and onward, economic elites have established policies that benefit the wealthy. Whether by lobbying or contributing to political campaigns, the upper class can have sway over a nation-state. Empirically, it is shown that the majority of Americans has little influence, in contrast to the wealthy elite that predominate policymaking (Gilens and Page 577). As such, policies of deregulation, privatization and free trade can proliferate under the reign of one group. Furthermore, there are reasons why the wealthy attained their power.

It is fair to say that the goal of many ambitious individuals working in the financial market is to achieve success in the form of wealth and recognition, sometimes, in excessive amounts. However, with just like every other professional occupation, there are advantages which could help speed up the process of reaching such prosperity, as well as obstacles that could delay it. They are factors such as the quality of one’s education, position of social class, importance of their contacts, the surrounding environment, and so on. Nevertheless, the true stumbling block for people working in small enterprises are big corporations since their influence can cross international borders and affect, for the better or worse, lesser-known businesses

“ This country contains a diverse array of interest group, the United States is a pluralistic society, as is any society of size and complexity. But the proponents of pluralistic presume to be saying something about how power is distributed and how democracy works.” (Parenti pg.268) The United States is a pluralistic democracy because most government policies favor large investor interest at a considerable cost to the rest of the populace. The rich keeps getting richer, while the people living in poverty continues to grow. “ The government best serves those who can best serve themselves.” (Parenti pg.268) The government is all about money and often serves the privileged few rather than the general public. Wealth is the most crucial power resource, and when push comes to shove what holds the various elites together is their common interest in an economic system that makes sure of the accumulation of corporate wealth, and the privileged lifestyles of the rich. Wealth creates a “ pervasive political advantage and affords ready access to most other resources.” (Parenti pg.269) Big business influence as a system of power and controls much of the nation's economy. Since they control most of the nation's economy the government has an intimate relationship with it, and the goal of business becomes the goal of government. The goals

America is Not a Democracy by Yascha Mounk elucidates the idea of constructing a myriad of new political institutions that rather reside power in the elite, represent the power of ordinary people and work towards solving issues that our society has continued to face and will be approached with in years to follow. Mounk explains the research of Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page as they question “who rules?” and their theories behind this eye-opening question. This paper continues to provide research and opinions on where the power resides, why it resides in those hands, the effects of the location of power, and what needs to be done to address it.