Who’s Whipping up the Power, You?

Oligarchy Rule in the United States
By Gary Wood
© October 18, 2007

An oligarchy is defined as “a form of government in which all power is vested in a few persons or in a dominant class or clique; government by the few.” Some dictionaries define it further as rule by a few persons or families. The first time I heard the United States was very much becoming an oligarchy with a shadow government controlling much of the power, carrying titles and leadership roles none of the people voted on nor could the positions be found in the Constitution I rolled my eyes. Initially, the notion of some shadow government fell on deaf ears as I was nearly too quick to simply label the idea some conspiracy theory with no foundation. Finally, oligarchy stuck with me and I started to research in an effort to determine if there was any such few with power enough to run the government.

There is a level of plutocracy going on, that of the government being ruled by the wealthy as it is nearly impossible to gain access into the system, especially at the Federal and State level, for citizens of less wealth. The entire election process has grown immensely expensive. On a discussion board not long ago a poster, ‘alamo1836,’ came up with the combination of a plutocratic oligarchy being a possible better description of what form of government the U.S. is morphing in to. However, oligarchy still requires finding these few persons or the dominant class or clique.

Listening to some commentary on the Iraq war by Senator Harry Reid, the current Senate Majority Leader, it started to come into a clearer focus on where some of these few may be controlling the government from. He was mentioning what a disastrous foreign policy gaff the Iraq war was yet he did not lead the Senate in fulfilling their responsibility to either declare or not declare war there, which the Congress passed off to the Executive Branch. He was not apologizing for not fulfilling his duty, nor taking any responsibility but pointing blame in other directions. It’s like watching a magician’s shell game or a quick round of three cards Monte.

His title kept coming to my mind, Senate Majority Leader. Is that position on any ballot any of you voted on? The citizens of Nevada elected Harry Reid as one of their Senators but where were the voices of the people in assigning him the powerful title of Senate Majority Leader and where in the Constitution is this position defined? This is not the only position of this nature in the Legislative Branch, there are over 20 extremely powerful positions between the House and the Senate that control much of the Federal government’s Congress. Less than 4% of the elected officials wielding amazing influence complete with whips to keep everyone in line.

Take a look at who a few of these people are this year. In the Senate you have the Majority and Minority Leader titles held by Harry Reid (D-NV) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) due to the Democrats holding a majority of seats. That’s the tradition, if your party holds the majority of seats your party gets to pick someone to play majority leader and it is a highly coveted and powerful role to play. Then, of course, every good leader needs to wield a skillful whip to keep the beasts of the circus in line. To help with this we have the Majority and Minority Whip held by Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Trent Lott (R-MS) cracking it for their leaders.

From the United States Senate’s website the definition of party floor leaders is, “The Majority Leader and Minority Leader are elected by their respective party conferences to serve as the chief Senate spokesmen for their parties and to manage and schedule the legislative and executive business of the Senate. By custom, the Presiding Officer gives the floor leaders priority in obtaining recognition to speak on the floor of the Senate.” The following definition for the position of whip is given. “Assistants to the floor leaders who are also elected by their party conferences. The Majority and Minority Whips (and their assistants) are responsible for mobilizing votes within their parties on major issues. In the absence of a party floor leader, the whip often serves as acting floor leader.”

Again, none of these positions were mandated in the Constitution yet began to emerge around the turn of the 19^th and 20^th century. Today they are merely accepted traditional and extremely powerful positions. Remember, the Senate was to be presided over by the Vice President and the House by a Speaker of the House. Note very clearly who the floor leaders speak for, their parties with priority in speaking. Nevadans may have elected Harry Reid but it is his job to speak for his party. Kentucky counted on being represented by Mitch McConnell but he is busy speaking not for Kentucky but for the Republican Party.

Look closely at the whips (and their assistants!) job which is to mobilize votes within their parties. In other words they are to insure there is enough of their party’s Congressional delegation in place at each vote to cast that vote not as the people would want but as the party wants. Illinois sent Dick Durbin to represent them and instead he, and his assistant, is charged to make sure there are enough Democrats at every important vote to cast that vote the Democratic Party way. The actual term, whip, comes to us from the position in a fox hunt known as the ‘whipper-in.’ The whipper-in assisted the huntsman in keeping the pack of dogs all together and stop the pack from running riot or chasing something other than the fox.

After the leaders, the whips are considered the second most powerful position in the House and Senate. Stop and think about how these positions have been created as a part of our government legislature through tradition and yet are now considered powerful, highly coveted titles to hold. It reminds me of aristocracy titles of old in many ways. Again, these are only 4 of the more than 20. There is the Conference Secretary and Conference Chair, each party has a Policy Chair, and finally each party has a Senatorial Committee Chair. The Senatorial Committee Chairs are not the same as each party’s National Chairman, that is another powerful position not elected by the people but the person filling the National Chair role is not a sitting elected representative of the people within the legislative branch.

In the House of Representatives you get another Majority and Minority Leader, Whips(one for each of the two parties), a Caucus and Conference Chair, one each Policy Chair, the Steering Chair and finally one each Congressional Committee Chair. Each of the positions again focuses on the issues of the party, the positions are selected by the party conferences and the duties are performed above and beyond any responsibility the person may have to the people who elected them initially with the idea of representing their, not the party, interest.

This may well be the fruition of the warnings voiced over 200 years ago regarding the dangerous, tyrannical nature of party politics. The power is shifted back and forth between only two parties, Republicans and Democrats. In the current structure there is no way any person elected from outside the two majority party powerhouses in the United States could ever hope to land one of these power positions. It would be easier to get elected as a third party Presidential candidate than win a seat at the inner circle of Congressional power. Anytime there is a shift in the control of Congress the parties merely switch majority and minority hats and the hunt continues.

We the people now accept these titles, listen closely when these people speak, follow the drama of who will rise and who will fall in these positions when there is a party shift in control of Congress. They are not mandated by the Constitution and they serve the party first and foremost. This short article has only scratched the surface of the plutocratic oligarchy running the United States. There are others in the Executive and Judicial branches and many of these same traditional positions are mimicked in State level governments across the country. This is the shadow government; cast the light on it and it becomes apparent there are a few, rich and powerful people governing this country. We the people may believe we are in control but that tradition seems to have been brought nearly to an end.

When we wonder why there is less and less difference between the Democrats and Republicans overall this appears to be a very strong reason. There has to be, for a time, a façade maintained the people are getting a choice but the two-party system has a stranglehold on the power of government and over time really care less and less who is in the majority and who is in the minority as long as the shadow positions are selected by the parties and not the people. Who’s whipping up the power? The two-party system is, not you.