Study: You Have 'Near-Zero' Impact on U.S. Policy
By Allan J. Lichtman, contributor
"The public be damned!"
William H. Vanderbilt, railroad magnate, 1882
A shattering new study by two political science professors has found that ordinary Americans have virtually no impact whatsoever on the making of national policy in our country. The analysts found that rich individuals and business-controlled interest groups largely shape policy outcomes in the United States.
This study should be a loud wake-up call to the vast majority of Americans who are bypassed by their government. To reclaim the promise of American democracy, ordinary citizens must act positively to change the relationship between the people and our government
The new study, with the jaw-clenching title of "Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens," is forthcoming in the fall 2014 edition of Perspectives on Politics. Its authors, Martin Gilens of Princeton University and Benjamin Page of Northwestern University, examined survey data on 1,779 national policy issues for which they could gauge the preferences of average citizens, economic elites, mass-based interest groups and business-dominated interest groups. They used statistical methods to determine the influence of each of these four groups on policy outcomes, including both policies that are adopted and rejected.
The analysts found that when controlling for the power of economic elites and organized interest groups, the influence of ordinary Americans registers at a "non-significant, near-zero level." The analysts further discovered that rich individuals and business-dominated interest groups dominate the policymaking process. The mass-based interest groups had minimal influence compared to the business-based interest groups.
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/civil-rights/214857-who-rules-america#ixzz3AHujZ27L
An early draft can be found here.
djean111
(14,255 posts)Which is why the exhortations to vote and really make a difference make me roll my eyes.
Maybe this was true a long time ago, but not now.
Autumn
(45,095 posts)Recommended and a big kick.
ck4829
(35,077 posts)Describes it perfectly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarian_democracy
Bill USA
(6,436 posts)littlemissmartypants
(22,667 posts)TheNutcracker
(2,104 posts)blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)radiclib
(1,811 posts)littlemissmartypants
(22,667 posts)Bill USA
(6,436 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Corporate dominated "democracy" is unsustainable.
Corporations would be well advised to back off on their quest to dominate the society through limiting the voice of the people.
It might be a decade from now, or longer, but it will happen.
littlemissmartypants
(22,667 posts)laserhaas
(7,805 posts)Thanks for this...
OnyxCollie
(9,958 posts)riverbendviewgal
(4,253 posts)plutocracy oligarchy aristocracy
Uncle Joe
(58,364 posts)Thanks for the thread, Purveyor.
littlemissmartypants
(22,667 posts)yurbud
(39,405 posts)littlemissmartypants
(22,667 posts)That on average it takes seventeen repetitions of the same verbal message to achieve cognitive value by the listener. I'm not sure if this is applicable to the written message. But it reveals the challenge of communicating messages and achieving action on value with spoken communication.
Love, Peace and the Righteous Fight.
~ Lmsp