We are seeing the dawning of the age of oligarchic control in the US and worldwide. It is a new form of feudalism emerging.
Billionaires
Let me tell you about the billionaires. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy whatever they want, and it does something to them. – F Scott Johnson
The neoliberalism propaganda scheme enabled the creation of a billionaire class. People don’t understand how much money a billion is. If, like most of us, you made a million dollars a year it would take you 1,000 years for that to add up to a billion.
Imagine becoming a billionaire. Imagine reaching the pinnacle of society! The dream. The ideal.
But also, imagine the disappointment. You’re still just a human being!
There’s a scene in The Borgias where Jeremy Irons is finally crowned Pope. They put the hat on his head, he waits, but doesn’t hear God’s voice! Imagine the disappointment. All that work, all that scheming, all those people left behind ruined or dead on the floor…
Imagine the disappointment of becoming a billionaire (or even only achieving $8 or 900,000,000) and NOTHING HAPPENS. (We’ve seen how the tech bros think they should be immortal and then use their money to try to get there.)
They really thought there’d be something more. Some award, some elevation.
One thing is for sure, though. They are better than regular people and they know it. It’s the entire point of society! They’ve reached the top. They’re smarter. They deserve what they have. And more than anything they deserve more.
Elevation. They deserve elevation.
When you are that special, why should regular people be able to tell you what they can and cannot do? Rules? We don’t need no stinkin’ RULES? Your puny nations aren’t going to constrain US. We can sacrifice 14-year-old virgins on our yachts and private islands any time we want and who are you to tell us we can’t!
Democracy? The herd? The mob? Laws? You’re going to tell US what to do? You can take your democracies … and we’re going to help get them out of our way!
They’re going to put a stop to that. And there’s a path. Modern politicians exist for one thing: money. The oligarchs have it. And so “politics” (can you even call it that anymore?) has morphed to being all about the billionaires – the oligarchs. Other donors (a measly million?) don’t even register when they’re writing checks for $125 million. (Or millions of pounds, pesos, whatever.)
The Plan
I can just picture the small, elite group gatherings. The servants bringing rare beverages and delicacies. The smirking consultants with their Powerpoint presentations about how to use social media to get people to do anything you want them to do. And if you own the information outlets, you TELL them what the “news” is. The people who count the votes control the outcome. You choose your voters. Etc.
Once you control the “news” outlets that “news” becomes about who to love, who to fear, and the latest “other” to hate. (Feeding them fear and giving them an “other” is as old as the hills.) And this year you’re telling them that their problem is migrants. (It works. It really works.)
Worldwide
The oligarch takeover is worldwide. This is Saudi money (that helped Musk buy Twitter) and Russian oligarch money (supplying strategy and the majority of the disinfo – and helped Musk buy Twitter) and Diddy/misogyny/pervert money (helped Musk buy Twitter) (and plenty of people in the Epstein and similar tapes) and Chinese billionaire money and tech bro billionaire money and … They already have Argentina and Hungary and Israel and new footholds in Austria and are adding so many others to their collection.
You’re With Us Or Against Us
There’s a powerful factor at work. You can see it. It is intimidation.
How many prominent Americans have you seen change their position from anti-Trump to pro-Trump in the last few years? People firmly against Trump and MAGA are suddenly supporters. Clearly they have been presented with a choice. “We’re going for it and we’re going to have the power and we’re going to use it. When that happens you either helped us or you are our enemy and you know what will happen to you and your family.” So you make a choice.
You can see it all around.