Democracy, or a privileged ruling class?
Governance is defined by who controls political power. An aristocracy means "dominant power by a privileged ruling class." Here are nineteen measurable marks of one, taken from the public record of American government.
The ruling class, measured.
An entrenched, stagnant, self-perpetuating two-party political class, older, longer-tenured, and far wealthier than the people it governs.
| 10 yrs | average congressional tenure, with 79 members serving more than 20 years, both historic highs |
| 59 / 61 | median age in the House and Senate, historic highs; the median age of the U.S. population is 38. Of the 33 senators up for re-election in 2018, 18 were over 65 |
| $1.1M | median net worth of a member of Congress, not counting hidden home value; the median U.S. adult citizen holds $44,900 |
| 630 | former members of Congress working as lobbyists or for lobbying clients in the last five years |
Strangled choice: a closed clique of partisans.
The 2016 elections set all-time records for non-competition.
| 402 | of 435 House seats were non-competitive, 30 of them entirely unopposed |
| 97% | of incumbents were re-elected; only 8 were defeated, and 4 of those only when outspent |
| 643% | average incumbent money advantage over the challenger in the House, roughly 6 times as much; in the Senate it is 1,330%, roughly 13 times as much |
| 14 | of 50 states are competitive, and those 14 get 99% of party ad spending, more than half of it in just four: FL, OH, NC, PA |
| 36 | states are a foregone one-party state, like China or Russia |
| 33 | of 435 House districts were actually contested in the 2016 elections |
How the map gets carved
The parties cede districts to each other through gerrymandering and targeted money. No matter which party controls the legislature for redistricting, the method is the same: connect together their most-favored leaning precincts, thereby ceding the remainder to the other party, which is then also locked in.
The result? Competition is eliminated: one for you, one for me. Few districts are left actually contested.
The revolving door and its retinue.
The revolving door
Career politicians, appointed officials, lobbyists, and apparatchiks rotate through the same offices.
Party federal patronage
4,000 executive-branch appointees and 21,000 congressional staff appointees.
The parasitic cadre
Lawyers, lobbyists, PR shops, polling operations, media firms, and data firms feeding on the system.
Law firms at the door
14 of the top 20 donor revolving doors are law firms, employing 320 lobbyists.
The Praetorian Guard
Prominent white-collar defense lawyers standing by at $1,000 an hour.
Affiliated partisans
Ideological "think tanks" and "independent" committees aligned with the parties.
Front organizations
Faux charities, foundations, law-lobbying fronts, and pass-through conduits.
Academic infiltration
Increasing infiltration of academia through the donor class and "think tanks": co-opted faculties, research, partisan centers and events, with both parties' mega-donors propagandizing students.
A case in point.
A public Massachusetts university refused a FOIA request on its researchers' studies because the D-Party "think tank" funding the work refused disclosure.
Aristocracy is the structure. Plutocracy pays for it.
The privileged class holds power because the wealthiest interests fund it. The next file follows the money.