Oligarchy Is the Problem
RECEIVED Sat., July 12, 2014
Dear Editor,
In "That Word 'Oligarchy,'" Michael Ventura nails it [Letters at 3AM, July 11]. The public must decide to acknowledge what it perceives. The emperor is naked, indeed. We are not heading for oligarchy, we're immersed in it. A very clever, deliberate oligarchy endeavoring to weaken the ability of citizens to respond in every way it can imagine. But the basis for this cleverness is not reason, it is paranoia. And the planning of oligarchy is not Machiavellian, it is insane. Thus, it threatens the wealthy class in the long run as much as it threatens the rest of us. And herein lies hope. An activism based on a vision of current trends resulting not in a Western empire where the few, and their sycophants, thrive nicely at the expense of the many, but a world in chaos, has a fighting chance. The core focus of such an activism would be education, real education. Education designed to corrode and dissolve denial, to create healthy alarm at all social-class levels. And a single political/economic goal incontrovertibly argued by [French economist] Thomas Piketty: heavy taxation of the rich. Finally, it will require prediction and preparation for the ways in which oligarchy will respond to such goals. It is time now to focus upon building such an activism.
In "That Word 'Oligarchy,'" Michael Ventura nails it [Letters at 3AM, July 11]. The public must decide to acknowledge what it perceives. The emperor is naked, indeed. We are not heading for oligarchy, we're immersed in it. A very clever, deliberate oligarchy endeavoring to weaken the ability of citizens to respond in every way it can imagine. But the basis for this cleverness is not reason, it is paranoia. And the planning of oligarchy is not Machiavellian, it is insane. Thus, it threatens the wealthy class in the long run as much as it threatens the rest of us. And herein lies hope. An activism based on a vision of current trends resulting not in a Western empire where the few, and their sycophants, thrive nicely at the expense of the many, but a world in chaos, has a fighting chance. The core focus of such an activism would be education, real education. Education designed to corrode and dissolve denial, to create healthy alarm at all social-class levels. And a single political/economic goal incontrovertibly argued by [French economist] Thomas Piketty: heavy taxation of the rich. Finally, it will require prediction and preparation for the ways in which oligarchy will respond to such goals. It is time now to focus upon building such an activism.
David Weiner
