Democracy, Plutocracy and Plutonomy
When we discuss political topics, usually when referring to the form of government practiced in the United States and probably in many other countries; we generally refer to a democratic government, or perhaps we could also refer as a constitutional government. Although, if this is our first response, we should start doing some research.
For many people, the terms “Plutonomy” and “Plutocracy” are not only completely unfamiliar words but also for some mysterious reason, these two words are hardly mentioned in everyday talk, especially on the mass media.
According to the reporter Bill Moyers "Plutocracy is the rule of the rich, political power controlled by the wealthy; and Plutonomy is an economic system where the privileged few make sure the rich get richer with government on their side" (Moyers). Consequently, having these two definitions, we can begin to guess why these two terms are not as popular as they should be.
Hence, what is democracy? We have been told since childhood that democracy comes from demos which mean people, and kratos that means government. (Merrian-Webster Dictionary) In other words, a government ruled by the people. Another definition would be the one Abraham Lincoln, one of the most famous U.S. presidents, pronounced: “democracy is government of the people, by the people and for the people”. Although the truth is that this word has been distorted, is used by people daily but really; do we know what it means? Is that true? This essay is specifically analyzing political trends in the United States of America. Where apparently, there is a democracy, more like semi-authoritarianism and this in turn is a disguised authoritarianism tolerance. It is in this multifaceted government where people apparently think, but actually is more like the manipulation of the population, a very well-disguised manipulation by the government, and especially by the media.
This country is full of beautiful buildings, streets full of ads with lights, that we are so impressed by, attractive shops, many food chains and good TV shows. Everything seems to function optimally. Since it is a very rich country, just as we see daily on television, we assume that this is a good life, but are we seeing the truth, or one more time is the media trying to cover something?
We are living around this false image of a great nation, or better called "The American Dream" which is nothing more than having a comfortable home, a good job and money. In fact, that does happen; people have a job, a house and food, but all is not as good as it seems to be. Due of to the propaganda and the idea of success that it is being advertised, a high consumerism in American culture is growing. Unfortunately the average families by trying to reach these standards, end up getting in a deep hole, they have to mortgage their homes and they end up drowning in their debt. As a result they cannot pay their mortgage and of course the rich get even richer. “According to a new University of Michigan report, about one out of every five U.S. households owe more on credit cards, medical bills, student loans and other non-collateralized debts than they have in savings and other liquid assets.” (Swanbrow)
It is true that the high consumerism is not the only reason why people end up without resources to pay the bills. In the United States, there are many problems, but one of the most serious has to do with the health system. A big number of persons in this country have no health insurance, so by the time they need to be treated at a hospital, by an accident for example, they end up paying large amounts. The extreme cases are of people being diagnosed with a disease that requires some medical monitoring and expensive treatment, and the have to pay incredibly high amounts of money, so again they end up mortgaging their houses. Of course, it is possible to buy insurance, but as every business, insurance companies need to make money, so they