George Washington, Thomas Jefferson--wealthy slaveholders, the political elite for a capitalist state. That is America; it always has been. America emerged as a liberal republic, the political corollary of capitalism. The presidency has never been an office for the common man. There have been a few exceptions, Andrew Jackson (though wealthy by the time he became president) and Abraham Lincoln most notably. But the fact they were not born wealthy doesn't mean they didn't serve capital.
Yet SCOTUS has ensured the cash nexus of the capitalist state will be naked. The pretense of government of the people by the people is falling away. The mistake you and many others make, however, is to assume that the political reality you observe is new. Its difference is only a matter of degree, and its nature has become more apparent because American capitalism has developed to the point where wage inequality is deepening and capital has become global rather than national. While constructing an ideal past to juxtapose against current exploitation may be common and understandable, it is not accurate. What you believe is a past where government served the people is in fact mythology. America has always been a capitalist state, and the system was never intended to serve the interests of ordinary Americans. In the early republic, only male, while property holders could vote. The vast majority of the population was deliberately excluded from political participation. While the franchise expanded during the first two centuries of the nation, the purpose of the capitalist state has not changed. Its primary function is to serve capital. In the late 18th century, those who wielded that capital were landowners and slaveholders. At the turn of the 20th century they were industrialists. Today they are financiers. The fact that capital is increasingly global, however, has generated a new series of contradictions. What you are witnessing are those new contradictions, but the fundamental nature of the system remains the same.
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that he might as well have had the House, too. Then, the "liberal" Walter Mondale got trounced in the next election, and the "liberal" Dukakis didn't fare much better in the election after that. So the Democratic apparatchiks decided "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em".
