Democrats: Party of Plutocracy

Joel Kotkin:

Democrats Now the Party of Plutocracy

"There’s more than a bit of cognitive dissonance in the merger of Democrats with plutocracy – rule by the wealthy. After all, the party’s brand is supposed to be “party of the people.” For Democrats, the allure of corporate cash – in campaign contributions and, later on, in of corporate patronage – may be overwhelming, but it does pose a threat to the party’s positioning.

To be sure, the Republicans are not exactly a primary vehicle for social democracy, but at least they generally don’t generally sell themselves this way. This differs from the almost comic attempt of Hillary Clinton to run as the candidate of the abandoned middle class. After all, this seems strange coming from a woman who gets six-figure fees for speeches to corporate groups, and whose family foundation may turn out to be one of the most egregious examples of quid pro quo fundraising since the money-grubbing days of the Nixon regime.

Yet the progressive establishment seems ready to accept Clinton’s recent transformation from corporate shill to class warrior; as the increasingly obsequious progressive mouthpiece the New Republic suggested “Clinton's movement to the left is unalloyed good news for liberals.” Rolling Stone, a noted stranger to credibility, as its now-discredited campus rape story suggests, also sees in her a kindred spirit in duplicity. Her “fake populism,” they declared, “is a hit.”"

When the likes of the Clintons can acquire hundreds of millions of dollars merely by being in positions for quid pro quo; when the richest people in the US Senate are Leftist Democrats; When Obama pumps billions into Wall Street while publicly criticizing but not prosecuting them ... what exactly do we have, if not a corrupt set of filthy rich politicians who are completely in bed with corrupt, filthy rich parasites on America's freedoms?

We need another Teddy Roosevelt.