The problem with oligarchy is the capriciousness. Under a system of laws, there’s a known quality of acceptable behavior, while with oligarchy everything can change in an instant, as demonstrated with the Trump/Musk dust-up.  The problem with Musk is not that he went from being a “good billionaire” to being a “bad billionaire.” The problem is that we have a political system that venerates billionaires and that facilitates their subversion of democracy–a system supported by both major parties. And, yes, the US is clearly an oligarchy. The fact that their presidential and congressional sock-puppets hold elections allows them to call their system a democracy for PR purposes.

The other problem with oligarchy–and it’s a big one–is the violence inherent in such an unequal system. It’s obvious in the way in which the Trump Administration is wielding ICE as a violent para-military in Los Angelos, while the deployment of National Guard troops and a battalion of Marines threatens a furthering of the militarization of American society. What began as a fairly small protest against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid at an apparel manufacturer in the Fashion District in downtown Los Angeles on June 6, led to an immediate response by federal agents in riot gear using pepper spray and “nonlethal bullets” to clear a path for vans to leave with detainees. 

The violence you are witnessing in Los Angelos in response to ICE brutality is tied to the maintenance of late stage capitalism. Remember kids–fascism is corporatism.

It’s a theatre of cruelty but there’s a certain capitalist logic to it. It’s notable that ICE is targeting immigrant labor organizers and labor members, while the violence against demonstrators is designed to deter other Americans from joining or sympathizing. Not only is the Trump administration not going after the employers of undocumented labor, but it is instead targeting union members who are legally living and working in the US. Unions are increasingly sounding the alarm that the ICE agents snatching people off the street is part of the administration’s wider crackdown on organized labor.

50 years of bi-partisan neoliberal policies have produced an oligarchy and captured state that resorts to violence as it’s legitimacy withers. The US government is a tool of corporations, banks, the war industry and oligarchs. It cannibalizes itself to funnel wealth upwards. Government, at all levels, serves corporate interests no matter who holds high positions. While there is some difference between Republicans and Democrats, when it comes to economic and foreign policies there is zero difference. The most revealing experience that we have of that harsh reality is when President Obama “foamed the runway” for the criminal banksters with millions of American homeowners in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

It’s only gotten worse with Biden and now Trump-Part 2. Trump makes it obvious as he shoves the oligarchy in our faces, but the state of affairs has poisonous effects that go beyond the dominant influence of the rich on the nation’s economy and government. Nations and societies have a moral aspect, but oligarchy is setting precedents and modeling the unaccountability and irresponsibility that is pervading executive power throughout the society. Three successive presidential administrations and decades of rogue behavior by corporate elites have set norms now evident in institutions as diverse as universities and think tanks, the military and professional associations – even private clubs. The cumulative result is a widespread degrading of standards in the uses and abuses of power.

Meanwhile, it’s quite clear that oligarchy contributes to our endless wars as privileged insiders further the conflicts for wealth and power.

Sounds like Palantir’s business plan.