Oligarchy (from Greek ὀλιγαρχία (oligarkhía); from ὀλίγος (olígos), meaning 'few', and ἄρχω (arkho), meaning “to rule or to command” is a form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people might be distinguished by nobility, wealth, family ties, education or corporate, religious or military control. Such states are often controlled by a few prominent families who typically pass their influence from one generation to the next. We normally thing of the Russian oligarchy. But there is also an American Oligarchy.
In 1998 Bob Herbert of The New York Times referred to modern American plutocrats as "The Donor Class as "a tiny group—just one-quarter of 1 percent of the population—and it is not representative of the rest of the nation. But its money buys plenty of access.
French economist Thomas Piketty states in his 2013 book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, that "the risk of a drift towards oligarchy is real and gives little reason for optimism about where the United States is headed.
A study conducted by political scientists Martin Gilens of Princeton University and Benjamin Page of Northwestern University was released in April 2014, which stated that their "analyses suggest that majorities of the American public actually have little influence over the policies our government adopts." The study analyzed nearly 1,800 policies enacted by the US government between 1981 and 2002 and compared them to the expressed preferences of the American public as opposed to wealthy Americans and large special interest groups It found that wealthy individuals and organizations representing business interests have substantial political influence, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little to none.
Former President Jimmy Carter stated in 2015 that the United States is now "an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery"
A current NYT article (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/04/01/us/politics/how-much-people-in-the-trump-administration-are-worth-financial-disclosure.html?_r=0 ) shows the net worth of the Trump administration has the 1% embedded.
And now we have the republican party wanting to remove the Estate Tax which contributes to inherited wealth. Similarly when you look at the wealth of young inherited oligarchs such as is available from the Federal Financial Disclosures of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, how did they acquire all this wealth at such a young age? Was it due to loopholes in the US tax codes that only the very rich can qualify.
The proposed revision of the US Tax Code is where the oligarchy will make sure that they pass inherited wealth and power onto their next generation.
I suggest you call your Congressman and Senators and state, you want the Estate tax to remain, and you want revisions to the US Tax code to prevent inherited wealth being passed in a way to continue the American Oligarchy.