One of the unacknowledged advantages of the horrendous era we’ve entered is that it is revealing the putrid connections between great wealth and great power for all to see.
Oligarchs are fully exposed and they are defiant. It’s like hitting the “reveal codes” key on older computers that let you see everything.
On Wednesday, Jeff Bezos, the third-richest person in America, who bought the Washington Post in 2013, announced that the paper’s opinion section would henceforth focus on defending “personal liberties and free markets”.
Anything inconsistent with this view would not be published, according to his statement. “Viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.”
The Post’s opinion editor, David Shipley, promptly resigned, as he should have.
You’ll recall that Bezos barred the Post from endorsing Kamala Harris in the last weeks of the 2024 election. Subsequently, the paper wouldn’t print its cartoonist’s drawing showing Bezos and other oligarchs bowing to Trump, leading the cartoonist to resign.
Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, bought Twitter in 2022, laid off everyone who was filtering out hateful crap on the platform, renamed it X and turned it into a cesspool of lies in support of Trump.
Mark Zuckerberg, the second-richest person, has followed suit, allowing Facebook to emit lies, hate and bigotry in support of Trump’s lies, hate and bigotry.
All three of these men were in the first row at Trump’s inauguration. They, and other billionaires, have now exposed themselves for what they are.
They are the oligarchy. They continue to siphon off the wealth of the nation. They are supporting a tyrant who is promising them tax cuts and regulatory rollbacks that will make them even richer.
They are destroying democracy so they won’t have to worry about “parasites” (as Musk calls people who depend on government assistance) demanding anything more from them.
When billionaires take control of our communication channels, it’s not a win for free speech. It’s a win for their billionaire babble.
When they talk of “personal liberties and free markets” they mean their own liberties to become even richer and more powerful, as the rest of America slides into worse economic insecurity and fear.
When they speak of “freedom”, what they actually seek is freedom from accountability.
This “reveal code” moment is, in a way, a blessing. It allows everyone to see where the money and power have gone.
It is a prerequisite to the long and difficult but necessary process of creating an economy and democracy for the many rather than the few.
