A provocative new study from Princeton and Northwestern universities has shown that the US government represents the rich and powerful and an oligarchy and not the interests of ordinary Americans.
By comparing the decisions of the US government to the expressed references of average Americans (around the 50th percentile), affluent Americans (within the 90th percentile), and large special interest groups between 1981 and 2001, the researchers found that the US political system is dominated by the economic elite.
In the peer reviewed study, the scientists found that average citizens had little to no influence when compared with the campaigns paid for by the money from economic elites and organised groups representing their interests.
This study comes in the wake of the McCutcheon v. Federal Electoral Commission, where the Supreme Court found that speech is money and abolished campaign contribution limits.decision
The study comes after McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, a controversial piece of legislation passed in the Supreme Court that abolished campaign-contribution limits, and record low approval ratings for the U.S. Congress.
