As the holiday season rolls around, I begin to read comments like this, on Dailykos, "my brother in law is a huge Sarah Palin fan. I don't know how we're going to get through this Christmas with him mouthing off at the dinner table." It's embarrassing for me to admit it, but my brother, the car dealership guy back in Chicago is a ditto head. The Gospel according to Rush! It sucks trying to deal with these people at the yule tide table, be it Kwanzaa, Chanukah, Ramadan,Festivus,Christmas, or even Canadian Christmas. To combat these puff jowled Morans, I offer as a complimentary gift to you, a holiday lexicon to make your arguments, quick, snappy, and to the point. Here are your talking points:
Oligarchy-The oligarchy (from Greek ὀλιγαρχία, oligarkhía[1]) is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with a small segment of society distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, or military control. The word oligarchy is from the Greek words "ὀλίγος" (olígos), "a few"[2] and the verb "ἄρχω" (archo), "to rule, to govern, to command".[3] Such states are often controlled by a few prominent families who pass their influence from one generation to the next.
Oligarchies have been tyrannical throughout history, being completely reliant on public servitude to exist. Although Aristotle pioneered the use of the term as a synonym for rule by the rich, for which the exact term is plutocracy; but oligarchy is not always a rule by wealth, as oligarchs can simply be a privileged group, and do not have to be connected by bloodlines as in a monarchy. Some city-states from ancient Greece were oligarchies.
Beautiful. Thanks Wiki. Next:
Plutocracy-The term plutocracy is generally used to describe these two distinct concepts: one of a historical nature and one of a modern political nature. The former indicates the political control of the state by an oligarchy of the wealthy. Examples of such plutocracies include some city-states in Ancient Greece, the civilization of Carthage, the Italian city-states/merchant republics of Venice, Florence, Genoa, and pre-WWII Empire of Japan zaibatsus.
Before the equal voting rights movement managed to end it in the early 20th century, many countries used a system where rich persons had more votes than poor. A factory owner may for instance have had 2000 votes while a worker had one, or if they were very poor no right to vote at all. Even artificial persons such as companies had voting rights. In the US, it would take until 1945 before persons living on welfare and persons in personal bankruptcy would get voting rights.[1][2]
Remind your low information dinner guest that when the United States Senate guarantees that rich people have far more persuasion than poor people, then, that's another way of saying, rich folks have more votes at their disposal, and this is one of the hallmarks of a plutocracy.
Special added bonus: In researching some of the definitions, I came across this gem which pertains to Japan's plutocracy in the 1920's and 30's. The zaibatsu consisted of four mega corporations that controlled whole swaths of the navy, army, government, agricultural production etc.
The zaibatsu were viewed with suspicion by both the right and left of the political spectrum in the 1920s and 1930s. Although the world was in the throes of a worldwide economic depression, the zaibatsu were prospering through currency speculation, maintenance of low labour costs and on military procurement. Matters came to a head in the League of Blood Incident of March 1932, with the assassination of the managing director of Mitsui, after which the zaibatsu attempted to improve on their public image through increased charity work.
Hmmm....worldwide currency speculation, maintenance of low labour costs, and on military procurement. Who does this sound like?
Well, good luck! I know multi-syllable words bring out that inferior streak in the compassion challenged consevatoid in all our families' closets. I leave it to you to break the definitions down to that Sarah Level of Dumbness.
*please feel free to add your own definitions. I couldn't cover monopoly or fascism in one diary.
**What's up with spell check busting my chops repeatedly over Chanukah and Festivus?