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If it's true that "History is written by the victors," why didn't we learn about the oligarchic dynamic in the Antebellum South when we were in school? Perhaps it's because the oligarchs always control the message and never really lost, rather they went underground much like the Morlocks in The Time Machine. They continued to exploit our citizens to satisfy their avarice whenever they can get away with it (they like the taste of Eloi). However, every 80 years or so they bring their evil to the surface to try to fully seize power again. Since we have defunded public education for over 40 years (and own the best propagandists ever), it’s no coincidence that we have enough citizens that can be fooled all of the time, and the oligarchs are making their move once again. Hamilton and Madison called them factions and they described them as some number of people that do things adverse to our rights and communities' interests. Regardless of whether we call them oligarchs, plutocrats, crime bosses or even televangelists, they are what is wrong with our democracy and there is only one way to get rid of them. Please read Erica Chenoweth's latest book Civil Resistance : What Everyone Needs to Know to see how to do it.

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Where is the Grim Reaper and Father Time when you need them?  Old and ugly inside and out, Murdoch is a prime example.

Greedy and hateful seems to never go out of style with this "class" of "people". I would love to see their brain scans and find out how many are sociopaths. We know Trump fits the bill, especially the part about stealing people's labor.

The rivalry they foster among the poor is an easy sell to a certain percentage. Again I want to blame it on brain function. We all have that animal instinct buried, and this is the result in some when it is fed. I know what I would like to do with the oligarchs, but I have successfully tamed that desire....so far.

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Definitely a different view than was played up by Hollywood and in the schoolbooks. It's really the same now with a shrinking middle class being told to blame anyone but those in power for their problems. And most of them believe it too. Basically the same game has been played by rulers since the ancient Greeks.

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