Like a gilded coating that makes the
dullest things glitter, today’s thin veneer of political populism covers
a grotesque underbelly of growing inequality that’s hiding in plain
sight. And this phenomenon of ever more concentrated wealth and power
has both Newtonian and Darwinian components to it.
In terms of Newton’s first law
of motion: Those in power will remain in power unless acted upon by an
external force. Those who are wealthy will only gain in wealth as long
as nothing deflects them from their present course. As for Darwin, in
the world of financial evolution, those with wealth or power will do
what’s in their best interest to protect that wealth, even if it’s in no
one else’s interest at all.
In George Orwell’s iconic 1945 novel, Animal Farm,
the pigs who gain control in a rebellion against a human farmer
eventually impose a dictatorship on the other animals on the basis of a
single commandment:
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
In terms of the American republic, the modern equivalent would be: “All
citizens are equal, but the wealthy are so much more equal than anyone
else (and plan to remain that way).”
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Source: The Nation
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