Zachary Chew

America is no longer the democracy our Founding Fathers envisioned. This country is no longer a republic — it’s an oligarchy.

The United States isn’t “run by the people, for the people,” but instead it’s run by the few, for the few. These few elites essentially control our entire political process.

Special interest groups, super-PAC’s, lobbyists and donors; these are the powerful groups that run this country. If you can wade your way through all the smoke and mirrors, you would see these people control our elected leaders.

Money in politics is the root of all political evil. Our leaders are bought, and without campaign finance reform, nothing will ever change. If you don’t pay attention to politics or the dangers facing this country, or think you can change everything by electing a new president, you are incorrect. 

In case you hven’t heard there’s this thing in the Constitution called the separation of powers. Even if we’re able to elect a non-corrupt elected executive branch leader, there is still two branches to worry about. Our senate is bought, our representatives are bought, our entire legislative branch is bought, and guess who votes on confirming new Supreme Court Justices? Our bought Congress.

Anyone with political knowledge knows the legislative branch (Congress) is, without a doubt, the most powerful. The oligarchy of America controls our very powerful Congress. The most powerful and richest interest groups control them. These groups include oil companies, pharmaceutical companies, big banks and even corporate media.

In a sense, it doesn’t matter what policy the general population wants passed. We have little power compared to these elites. If these groups want a policy passed, you better believe they’ll get in touch with the senators and representatives in their checkbooks and get that policy on the Congress floor.

With mid-term elections coming up and 34 Senate seats up for grabs, this is a significant election. What if the general population elected someone who isn’t a puppet into the majority of those new seats? I’d put my money on seeing Tupac ride a unicorn over a rainbow before seeing that happen.

I say this because the puppets always win. Why? Because the powerful few want them to. The special interest groups, lobbyists, etc.  fund their political campaigns and their influence is powerful. They will have columns, TV commercials and speeches all over their state, whereas the average Joe running for Congress, who isn’t in debt to anyone and refuses to be bought, will get destroyed. This kind of person is not a career politician. He or she most likely has a job, a family and can’t afford the same type of campaigning the puppet can. For this reason, average Joe will lose 99.9 percent of the time.

On the bright side, the American people are finally starting to catch on to the fact that we’re run by the powerful elite. There are currently two presidential candidates, one in each party, who are not bought or controlled by the establishment. These two candidates are Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. Trump funds his own campaign and Sanders is funded by millions of American people. No matter where your political ideals stand, the fact that the establishment is being tested on both sides is a step in the right direction when it comes to taking back our political system.