Democracy in America being ruled by the rich is common knowledge, what few know is what system this creates. As it stands now, America is an oligarchic nation, officially declared or not.
The word oligarchy, meaning rule of the few, refers to a government which is heavily influenced by the country’s richest business owners, often going as far as being run by them.
On January 20th, 2025, Donald Trump was inaugurated into the Oval Office for the second time. This was a step towards the intensification of American oligarchy. Not only because of his history as a failed businessman, but because of his cabinet selections. Currently, many of those he has chosen for these important positions are causing consternation up on Capitol Hill. The most concerning of these picks being former Fox News host Pete Hegseth to run the pentagon and vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy JR. to run the Department of Health and Human Services.
Divisions of Oligarchies
The first type is referred to as a putative oligarchy. This is categorized by oligarchs which are the largest private business owners in any given country, which possess significant political power to influence their interests, and which control multiple businesses and organize activities between sectors.
The second type referred to as an intellectual oligarchy was coined by George Bernard Shaw as a key role in his play Major Barbara. Despite originating in the realm of fiction, this type, classified by intellectual and educated ‘elites’ alongside the lack of power for the ‘common man’, is based in heavy truth and finds its place within reality.
Though, one difference is that in a typical oligarchy, the level of education that an oligarch has doesn’t matter, the money in their pockets and the stake in their companies are the real heavy hitters. The United States, as it progresses to this status, more closely resembles a Putative Oligarchy. In fact, many political scientists, such as Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page, agree that as of 2024, the US is more oligarchical than democratic.
If Trump is allowed his cabinet picks with so few relevant credentials, the only path away from this system would involve revolution. Real systemic progress needs to be made towards equality, this cannot happen in an oligarchy.
The Beginnings of an Oligarchy
Oligarchies tend to begin as either a democracy or a dictatorship. Research based on the ‘life cycle’ of former oligarchies shows that no capitalist society can be immune to this transformation.
A democracy on this path will progress for the benefit of those richest in the government and their close relations. According to the Iron Law of Oligarchy by Robert Michels, no matter how democratic a form of organization begins, tendencies of oligarchy will slip in through various forms of corruption.
When it comes to a dictatorship’s evolution, companies usually need to either be directly connected to or outwardly share ideals with the dictator. Because this type of government is so centered and controlled by one person, it is increasingly more difficult to rise in the ranks and gain power, especially as a large organization. Only companies with close personal connections to a dictator will become oligarchs in this system due to the typical paranoid and extremely controlling nature of a dictator.
A New Big Brother
Not only can dictatorships lead to oligarchy, but the cycle is true the other way around. An oligarchy can easily become a dictatorship when the companies controlling the government pick either the richest or the person who can best perform actions in their interest due to a background in government or military.
This knowledge has been worrying to many, considering Trump’s relatability with former political leaders like Hitler. He felt the need to insist at a rally in Waterloo, Iowa in December of 2023 that he had never read Mein Kampf. The lack of prompting on the subject is what mainly concerned the media.
Despite this being his first mention of the dictator at a rally, he had previously been quoted on multiple occasions praising the genocidaire. At this specific event he states that immigrants were “poisoning the blood” of America.
“It’s true. They’re destroying the blood of the country, they’re destroying the fabric of our country, and we’re going to have to get them out,” Trump said.
This was just after stating that the point he made about blood, which was quoted from Hitler, was used in a ‘very different way.’ After this event, he proceeded to be more open with the media about his perception of Hitler. Trump’s views coupled with the state of the country and his devoted following has many worried about the potential for a future American dictatorship.
Negative Effects on American Life
Considering that capitalism completes the groundwork needed to form an oligarchy, there are many other negative effects that capitalism brings to a country.
The first negative effect, and that closest related to the formation of an oligarchy, is monopoly power. This term is used to refer to the power of a firm (or multiple firms) to price profitably above marginal cost.
The most recent example of a monopoly is Google, which was determined to be a monopoly by the supreme court on August 5, 2024. They were ordered to break up its Chrome browser from the main search engine in order to take them down from monopoly status. Trump has indicated on multiple occasions that, despite his firm being the one to bring this lawsuit up, he may not break up the company. This would allow for monopoly power to succeed in America.
Ignorance in social benefit is another harmful effect of capitalism. This means that a capitalist free market can be detrimental to equal rights supported by society. This is mainly problematic to minority groups such as POC and LGBTQ+ along with those who have been oppressed through patriarchy (which has also been shown to gain support from capitalism). Trump makes an example of himself on multiple occasions by being anti-LGBTQ. Two notable examples include opposing the Equality Act, alongside appointing outwardly anti-LGBTQ judges.
Environmental detriment is one final example of the harm of capitalism. The extreme consumerist culture which currently runs rampant in the US creates carbon emissions like no other. As of 2023, the largest producer of carbon emissions within the industry of fashion is Shein. According to Yale Climate Concerns, between 2022 and 2023 Shein almost doubled their carbon emissions. While the company has made promises to be earth friendly by 2030 and take emissions down to zero no later than 2050, these claims remain without proof as their numbers continue to increase.
Their constant and integral use of AI technology along with their massive sweatshops makes the total elimination of carbon emissions impossible without entirely re-doing the current business model. Even if one was to ignore their carbon footprint, the impact on those forced to work in sweatshops is far more than notable. Setting aside from the cheap materials used to create products, the reason for their low prices lies more heavily in the fact that those working in their factories make pennies a day, while the fast fashion giant continues to rake in millions of dollars a year. During Trump’s first presidency, there was an obscene number of deaths due to worsened local air conditions. Luckily for Americans, the reframing of the climate crisis as an economic issue by Biden will keep a fair amount of the positive trends moving.
Final Thoughts
The most common way for this form of system to fall is through coups and rebellions organized by the people, which only further proves the negative effect oligarchies have on the societies they regulate. No oligarchic society has a beneficially linear system of growth for the common man. Those who teethed with a silver spoon will benefit, while those with less will continue to fall from the bottom of the well in which they were placed.
