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====Oligarchy==== {{Further|Income inequality in the United States#Effects on democracy and society}} In 2014, [[United Press International]] reported that the political structure of the United States has become an [[oligarchy]], where a small economic elite overwhelmingly dominate policy and law.<ref name=sevcik-2014>Sevcik, J.C. (April 16, 2014) [http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2014/04/16/The-US-is-not-a-democracy-but-an-oligarchy-study-concludes/2761397680051/ "The US is not a democracy but an oligarchy, study concludes"] ''UPI''</ref> Some academic researchers suggest a drift toward oligarchy has been occurring by way of the influence of corporations, wealthy, and other special interest groups, leaving individual citizens with less impact than economic elites and organized interest groups in the political process.<ref name="GilensPage">{{cite journal |title=Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens |author1=Martin Gilens |author2=Benjamin I. Page |name-list-style=amp |journal=[[Perspectives on Politics]] |date=2014 |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=564–581 |doi=10.1017/S1537592714001595 |url=|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>[[Thomas Piketty|Piketty, Thomas]] (2014). ''[[Capital in the Twenty-First Century]].'' [[Belknap Press]]. {{ISBN|067443000X}} p. 514: *"the risk of a drift towards oligarchy is real and gives little reason for optimism about where the United States is headed."</ref><ref>(French economist Thomas Piketty), Associated Press, December 23, 2017, [http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-qa-a-french-economists-grim-view-of-wealth-gap-2014apr23-story.html Q&A: A French economist's grim view of wealth gap], Accessed April 26, 2014, "...The main problem to me is really the proper working of our democratic institutions. It's just not compatible with an extreme sort of oligarchy where 90 percent of the wealth belongs to a very tiny group ..."</ref><ref>Alan Wolfe (book reviewer), October 24, 2010, The Washington Post, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/22/AR2010102203010.html Review of "The Mendacity of Hope," by Roger D. Hodge], Accessed April 26, 2014, "...Although Hodge devotes a chapter to foreign policy, the main charge he levels against Obama is that, like all politicians in the United States, he serves at the pleasure of a financial oligarchy. ... "</ref> An April 2014 study by political scientists Martin Gilens ([[Princeton University]]) and [[Benjamin Page]] ([[Northwestern University]]) concluded that the U.S. government does not represent the interests of the majority of its citizens but instead is "ruled by those of the rich and powerful".<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gilens |first1=Martin |last2=Page |first2=Benjamin I. |date=September 2014 |title=Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B |journal=Perspectives on Politics |language=en |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=564–581 |doi=10.1017/S1537592714001595 |issn=1537-5927}}</ref> The researchers after analyzing nearly 1,800 U.S. policies between 1981 and 2002, stated that government policies tend to favour special interests and lobbying organizations, and that whenever a majority of citizens disagrees with the economic elites, the elites tend to prevail in getting their way.<ref name="GilensPage" /> While not characterizing the United States as an "oligarchy" or "[[plutocracy]]" outright, Gilens and Page give weight to the idea of a "civil oligarchy" as used by [[Jeffrey A. Winters]], saying, "Winters has posited a comparative theory of 'Oligarchy,' in which the wealthiest citizens—even in a 'civil oligarchy' like the United States—dominate policy concerning crucial issues of wealth- and income-protection." In their study, Gilens and Page reached these conclusions: {{Blockquote|When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites and/or with organized interests, they generally lose. Moreover, because of the strong status quo bias built into the US political system, even when fairly large majorities of Americans favor policy change, they generally do not get it. ... [T]he preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1017/S1537592714001595 |quote=When the preferences of economic elites and the stands of organized interest groups are controlled for, the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy."|title=Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens|year=2014|last1=Gilens|first1=Martin |last2=Page|first2=Benjamin I.|journal=Perspectives on Politics|volume=12|issue=3|pages=564–581|doi-access=free}}</ref>}} [[E. J. Dionne Jr.]] described what he considers the effects of ideological and oligarchical interests on the judiciary. The journalist, columnist, and scholar interprets recent [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] decisions as ones that allow wealthy elites to use [[economic power]] to influence political outcomes in their favor. In speaking about the Supreme Court's ''[[McCutcheon v. FEC]]'' and ''[[Citizens United v. FEC]]'' decisions, Dionne wrote: "Thus has this court conferred on wealthy people the right to give vast sums of money to politicians while undercutting the rights of millions of citizens to cast a ballot."<ref>E. J. Dionne Jr., April 6, 2014, ''The Washington Post'', [https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ej-dionne-jr-supreme-oligarchy/2014/04/06/823f15ea-bc2e-11e3-9a05-c739f29ccb08_story.html Supreme oligarchy], Accessed April 26, 2014. "...Thus has this court conferred on wealthy people the right to give vast sums of money to politicians while undercutting the rights of millions of citizens to cast a ballot."</ref> Nobel Prize–winning economist [[Paul Krugman]] wrote: {{Blockquote|The stark reality is that we have a society in which money is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few people. This threatens to make us a democracy in name only.<ref>Paul Krugman, ''The New York Times'', November 3, 2011, [https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/04/opinion/oligarchy-american-style.html Oligarchy, American Style], Accessed April 26, 2014</ref>}} A November 2022 study by [[Pew Research Center]] showed that majorities in both the Republican and Democratic parties held increasingly negative views of major financial institutions and large corporations.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/11/17/anti-corporate-sentiment-in-u-s-is-now-widespread-in-both-parties/|title=Anti-corporate sentiment in U.S. is now widespread in both parties|last1=Dunn|first1=Amina|last2=Cerda|first2=Andy|date=November 17, 2022 |website=Pew Research Center |publisher= |access-date=November 28, 2022 |quote=}}</ref>
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