American Boogeymen

Psst, I see rich people

The gang’s all here on the S&P 500: Mcdonald’s, Coors, Northrop Grumman, Walmart. Hell yah. Who needs the other 496? The free market deserves some credit for creating such a precise amalgamation of what makes us special. This index is America. Even more than the individual companies trading on the exchange, the dense concentration of economic power within the S&P 500 may be the most American thing about it. Blackrock, Vanguard, and State Street, the 3 largest investment firms in the US, are major shareholders in 95% of the entire index, with $20.7 trillion in assets between the 3 of them. The scope here is unfathomable. 3 corporations alone carry a disconcertingly large amount of systemic risk, managing assets across hundreds of companies with the promise of protecting and increasing shareholder value . This gross display of portfolio diversification is morbidly impressive. Any businessman who sees the value in both long-range missiles and Snapple is the kind of economic savant anyone should trust with their portfolio.

The amount of wealth and economic concentration on display here is directly antithetical to any serious Democratic society. Some might rightfully argue it’s Oligarchical. It is impossible to be involved in that many avenues of business and still have the best interest of the individual shareholders in mind. Even when it comes to shareholder voting power, which is a main point of contention for opponents of this anti-corporate narrative, the 3 firms control roughly 23% of all votes for companies in the S&P 500. The neutered voting power of an individual doesn’t just apply to economics, though. There is something much more sinister lurking here. Blackrock, Vanguard, and State Street embody a ballooning corporate class of businesses and executives whose wealth and influence continue to skyrocket, virtually unopposed by any kind of regulation, law, or tax code, let alone any sort of moral imperative. The United States has always been a country beholden to the almighty dollar over the individual. This isn’t exactly new. But as wealth inequality widens and the middle class continues to shrink, so does the individual power to enforce change through Democracy.

In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that it was a violation of the First Amendment to restrict independent expenditures for political campaigns by corporations. This complete evisceration of election spending oversight has given companies and the wealthiest individuals unilateral influence on the outcome of elections by way of funneling unlimited amounts of money into SuperPAC’s. From 2008 to 2016, election spending increased by 900%. In the 2 years from 2018 to 2020, election spending increased by $5.7 billion. This money is not made up of grassroots and middle and working class dollars. The majority of people are becoming voiceless, and big money has never been louder. The most vile aspect of all of this is that it doesn’t even just apply to the support of an individual candidate. Through the black magic of SuperPAC’s, corporations are allowed to denigrate oppositional candidates without their preferred candidate taking any kind of accountability. The notable “I’m Donald Trump and I approve this message” soundbite you here before or after any political ad only applies to ads paid for by the Trump campaign itself. If, hypothetically, you had a PAC and wanted to run an ad claiming that Ted Cruz is in fact The Zodiac Killer, you wouldn’t need Colin Allred’s stamp of approval. Now, you’d need buyers for the ad itself, but regardless this is obviously fucked. A blatantly twisted and dishonest interpretation of the First Amendment, Citizens United has allowed corporations to speak as if they are people. It has been integral to America’s transition from a Democracy to full-blown Oligarchy.

Elon Musk gave over $100 million to the Trump campaign through his America PAC, but his most devious contribution wasn’t strictly monetary. In a report by The Guardian, during the final stretch of the campaign, Arab American voters in metro Detroit began seeing texts and mailers about Kamala Harris’ support of Israel. Displaying text that exclaims Kamala will “ALWAYS stand with Israel,” she will “stand up against Hamas and radical terrorists in Gaza.” There were ads even specifically mentioning that her husband is Jewish. Meanwhile, in heavily Jewish-populated areas of Pennsylvania and Detroit, texts and mailers were sent out saying “two faced Kamala stands with Palestine,” and “Why did Kamala Harris support denying Israel the weapons needed to defeat the Hamas terrorists who massacred thousands? And why did Harris show sympathy for college protesters who are rabidly antisemitic?” These targeted, rhetorically manipulative, and conflicting ads were intentionally delivered to 2 of the most emotionally vulnerable voter demographics in this election cycle. The ads were produced by Future Coalition PAC, which has only one donor: Elon Musk. This kind of sick shit is on the fast train to normalization. You don’t get to be as rich as Musk through any kind of compassionate moral compass, and this type of sociopathic immorality will only continue to infect our elections. In fact, as Trump’s cabinet begins to take shape, Republicans are already threatening oppositional party members. If you do not fall in line, you will get primaried, and it will be funded by Elon Musk.

Big money influence on elections is not exclusive to Republicans. Democrats absolutely abuse big money and leverage their consultant and corporate coalition in order to suprress the left. There is, however, a noticeable gap between the amount given to Republicans and the amount given to Democrats. This election cycle, the top 10 Republican donors outspent the top 10 Democratic donors by $691,999,569 million. That is an astonishing differential, and it’s a simple matter of corresponding goals and ideals. Right-wing policy inherently benefits corporations and wealthy individuals in a way that genuine leftist policy does not. The conservative belief in small government and deregulation is directly correlated to their argument in favor of Citizens United. All of this in an effort to put the powers that be in place and enact sweeping tax cuts for big business, deregulation to allow corporations to act without guardrails, and spending cuts to cripple the federal government portraying it as dysfunctional and ineffective. This has been happening, and it’s happening now. Musk, along with fellow wealthy sycophant Vivek Ramaswamy, bought their way into creating a fugazi government entity in the Department of Government Efficiency. Musk, whose companies are the recipients of billions in government subsidies, will continue to seek favorable treatment from this new administration. Trump’s Energy Secretary pick, Chris Wright, is an energy executive at the second largest fracking services company on Earth. It’s hard to imagine he would fall in line with policy that may affect Liberty Energy’s bottom line. Miriam Adelson, Trump’s 3rd largest donor for this cycle, bought Trump’s foreign policy on Israel. Trump’s tax-cut legislation in 2017 was the largest of its kind for big business. He’ll brag as much about it. None of this is isolated to Donald Trump and his time in politics; this is just how it works. The 2024 election and its result are the most visible and tangible outcomes of a system working as intended.

The present reality of this corruption is a lot like the wealth of those who perpetuate it. It is already here, but it is growing, it is getting worse, and it is becoming progressively harder to combat. If Democracy is the foundation of the American experiment, then Oligarchy has taken root and ascended through the cracks. Americans are already disenchanted with Democracy, and if there’s any hope in salvaging it, then it starts with overturning Citizens United. It starts with eliminating the mechanisms that allow for obscene wealth to buy elections and disenfranchise voters. Progressive policy can’t be enacted if the coalition can’t even get elected. Wealth inequality and its negative effects on the lives of the American people is required rhetoric for any serious Democratic politician. It is at the core of America’s most terminal problems, and it cannot continue to be tossed aside in favor of friendly corporate gesturing and appeasement.

Republicans have made a myriad of groups out to be boogeymen. Assigning blame to minorities, immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, and women for a carousel of issues that are never actually correlated. It is time for this country’s discontent to be directed at the right people for the right reasons. The only minorities that should be marginalized and ridiculed are the über wealthy. A small handful of individuals with an outrageously disproportionate amount of power. The real boogeymen of America have long existed in the shadows, hiding under the beds and in the closets of working-class Americans. Blocking their minimum wage increases, gutting social safety nets, and terminating their employment and benefits for the sake of profit. They now live in broad daylight. Open, unabashed, and shameless with their intentions. Now more than ever, they should terrify you.