DC Area Has 4 of 5 Richest Counties in the Nation

A Political Plutocracy now runs the USA … into the ground.

As it was recently reported in the HuffPo, the Washington, DC area is now home to four of the five wealthiest counties in the country. That their report of this factoid was so casual and lacking in insight is testimony to the mainstream media’s contribution to this very unfortunate state of affairs.

When the concentration of wealth is so great in the political epicenter of American politics it can only mean that the people’s business is not getting done. Only the corporations of the world, as well as other nations looking to buy influence, have the money in the current ongoing recession to maintain such a high standard of living.

Therefore, wherever corporate money and influence predominate through the agency of high-powered lobbyists, lawyers, ex-politicians, bankers, etc., the people’s interest almost always suffers. Considering the many wealthy enclaves located in Florida, New York, California and Texas, this little factoid becomes all the more telling.

Top 1% Getting 95% of Income Gains: Is Washington Responsible?

The amount of money that it takes to grease legislative agendas has become quite staggering. Only the top 1% has the wherewithal to conduct such expensive campaigns against the interest of the American people. Only the top 1% has a strong enough incentive to build a cadre of agents and functionaries large enough to see those lobbying efforts through.

The revolving door between government and the private sector is well known. This incestuous relationship has assured that the political plutocracy will only continue to grow and get even stronger. The stranglehold that this political class has on everything that happens in DC is what must be broken if the American people are to get their constitutional republic back.

Three Branches Of Government Work For Them(selves), Not We The People

The most powerful members of the executive branch, legislative branch and judicial branch all live or work in these richest counties and surrounding areas. The 535 voting members of Congress, for instance, are under constant ‘surveillance’ by those lobbyists whose mission it is to ensure specific legislative outcomes, especially when Congress is in session. Therefore, because of the extremely high cost of doing business in the DC area, the peoples’ agenda rarely gets heard.

The real reason for such a high cost of housing in Washington lies in the too cozy relationship between the government sector and the corporate sector. Even doing business in DC has risen to a level that is prohibitive to all but the wealthy elite. It is in these evolving institutional arrangements that we find obstacles which are now impossible to overcome.

Simply put, the people’s business will always be subordinated to the corporate interests as long as these institutional arrangements stay entrenched.  Each successive election cycle has only served to validate the extraordinary influence that corporations and their lobbyists have on the campaigns and voting results.

Conclusion:

Perhaps the time has come for the electorate to address this profound and fundamental systemic issue once and for all.  After all, the very existence of the Republic lies in the balance.  As does the Constitution and the democracy which gives voice to it.

It was John F. Kennedy who said:

“A revolution is coming – a revolution which will be peaceful if we are wise enough; compassionate if we care enough; successful if we are fortunate enough – but a revolution which is coming whether we will it or not. We can affect its character; we cannot alter its inevitability.”

There is no question that JFK was a unique kind of modern day prophet. Hopefully those to whom he was speaking understand that the day is now upon us. Otherwise JFK’s other prognostication, as follows, will likely manifest in the not too distant future.

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”

Michael Thomas
State of the Nation 2013
September 29, 2013
[email protected]

References:
Peek Inside The Most Expensive Homes In America’s Richest Counties
CHALLENGING AMERICA’S PLUTOCRACY: The Power of Individual Voters to Transform Their Government

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