The irony of the political rise of the plutocrats is that, like Venice's oligarchs, they threaten the system that created them.
Chrystia FreelandRead
What is interesting is that, although it is framed as a war between the elites and Main Street, the Tea Party is actually really good for the elites.
Interpretation
The Tea Party appears to oppose elite interests but inadvertently benefits them.
This quote highlights the paradox within the political landscape where movements that claim to represent the common people, like the Tea Party, may actually serve the interests of the elite class. It suggests that while these movements are framed as populist revolts against authority, the outcomes often end up reinforcing the status quo and benefiting those they aim to challenge.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about political movements and their true beneficiaries.
The irony of the political rise of the plutocrats is that, like Venice's oligarchs, they threaten the system that created them.
All of us can agree that we want government to work as well as possible, and we should all applaud efforts to improve it. But there is no escaping the divisive and essential questions: What is the purpose of the state, and whom does it serve?
In a globalized economy, jobs no longer need a passport, but workers do.
This is the 21st-century paradox: Even as political democracy has become the intellectual default mode for much of the world, the private sector usually trumps the public one when it comes to accommodating consumer choice.
Living as we do in the age of Facebook, we shouldn't be surprised that some countries are starting to imagine themselves more as social networks than as a physical place.
One of the most important political and economic facts of this young century is that capital has been slipping the traces of the nation-state. Business is global; government is national.
They say, oh, letβs have multiparty politics. Letβs have different parties change and be in charge of the Government. Is it that simple? You vote in a Division Three government, not a Division One government, and the whole economy will just subside within three, four years. Finished.
We still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry and grasping at the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised to furnish new pretenses for revenue and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without a tribute.
By their subjugation of the press, the political powers in America have conferred on themselves the greatest of political blessings -- Gyges' ring of invisibility. And they have left the American people more deeply baffled by their own country's politics than any people on earth. Our public realm lies steeped in twilight, and we call that twilight news.'
The politician and the government expert receive their revenues, not from service voluntarily purchased on the market, but from a compulsory levy on the populace. These officials, therefore, wholly lack the pecuniary incentive to care about serving the public properly and competently.
What is a democrat? One who believes that the republicans have ruined the country. What is a republican? One who believes that the democrats would ruin the country.
The genius of impeachment lay in the fact that it could punish the man without punishing the office.
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