Chomsky Wants You to Wake Up from the American Dream

In abstract theory wealth is not force and is not political power. It's easy to write that statement down and believe it. But firewalling these two in the real world is something that I regard as politically impossible. The only scenario I can imagine is one where we have some kind of AI programmed to maintain a democratic libertarian state and that is above economics, invulnerable to persuasion, and lacks any human needs or wants that can be influenced through money.

Given that wealth can easily buy power (a.k.a. ability to wield force), then a sufficiently large concentration of wealth in the hands of a few easily leads to that few having the power to arbitrarily wield force. Even if the plutocrats are initially idealistic, over time this will erode... especially if social change or market forces threaten their wealth. At that point the choice is between adapting (hard) or using force (easy). People usually take the easy path.

It annoys me when people rail against the incompetence of the ruling elite. They seem all too competent to me, and processes like manufacturing consent, etc. are too obvious to ignore for people paying attention. The middle and lower classes have lost the game.