The USA is an oligarchy: This scholar explained how in 1956 (with historian Aaron Good) 

Money in politics. I remember when they allowed unlimited money into politics. I AM 75. IT WAS SOLD AS FREEDOM! And now you see what that has brought us. NO FREEDOM AT ALL.

The well respected US news anchorman and reporter Walter Cronkite noted during the 1990s that: "America is not a democracy, but an oligarchy".

For what I can see, the military is servant to oligarchy, just as is the government. That leaves us with oligarchy, which with their enormous capital controls the corporations, including defense industry.

The for branches of government: 1) corporate America 2) think tanks 3) lobbyists and media middlemen 4) military.

As a “right winger” I’m very critical of crony capitalism. Conservatives don’t like supreme centralized power structures no matter the formation or structure. We’ve just woken up to the fact that the elite class of the nation has captured political institutions into a very narrow spectrum of policy that acts as a feedback loop between big corporations/ bankers and gov institutions. Republicans have been traditionally sold that a free market economy (capitalism) is the mechanism of freedom…and are now seeing the facade and understand we are under the thumb of power elites that are transnationally oriented, use economic flows to consolidate power, speak of “democracy” as a Trojan horse and use gov / corporations and banks / military/ national systems as it sees fit to enact its technocracy - that is a feedback loop to itself in the end

I watched Shrek last night, and saw his "friendly "Ogre." Oligarchs could be called "ogregarchs." Real BAD monsters eating up humanity. Let's NAME the ogregarchs, and hold them to account.

I read "The Power Elite" as a social science major in about 1962. I've long argued that the U.S. is an Oligarchy and was so even before Citizens United clapped the lid on any opposing argument.

Awesome work. We need more classes like this. The format is digestible.👍👍👍

"The USA is an oligarchy" And in other news, the sky is blue, water is vital to sustain life, and beaches have sand.

I read The Power Elite in college around 1974. Very important book.

Another excellent episode of this Amazing series about 'US: Deep State'! Keep up, Ben, Aaron and Seamus, with your outstanding work because the world needs it!

I went ahead and bought the audiobook version of American Exception, so now I'm playing along with these episodes.

Thanks Ben, Aaron and Seamus, for this well informed, valuable discussion cum political lesson. For me it serves to affirm that a fear of Xi's concept of a 'community with a shared future for mankind' that has the political leaders of a European/American liberalism resorting to lies, propaganda and attempted regime change throughout the entire planet. As simplistic as it/I might be saying this, most if not all geopolitical tension and wars throughout the modern era can now be narrowed down to being a struggle between 'modern liberalism' and 'modern socialism'.

Nobody should be able to earn a degree in any branch of the social sciences if they have not read The Power Elite. It is that relevant, that informative, and that well written.

"Anarchy is no guarantee that some people won't kill, injure, kidnap, defraud, or steal from others. Government is a guarantee that some will." Gustave de Molinari

This series is just excellent. Keep up the good work 👍

Sociologists and our students know Mills! The Sociological Imagination is much popular. The Power Elite should be taught more.

These guys need to have Whitney Webb on.

Thanks much for explaining the Oligarch's agenda when crucial decision-making in the USofA takes place.

"Native Americans getting gone, otherwise under control"??? Interesting use of words. You mean virtually wiped out?

With re: education, the system defunded public education from the time of integration, so any hope of educating a well informed citizenry that could critically think about civic and political engagement or could properly critique society and government was lost. Again, by design. I appreciate our coverage on what's happened in higher education.

Prospect for America was the Rockefeller Bros description of the Domino Theory, written by Henry Kissinger and a few retired generals. That one was even used as a reference by JFK. The connection to Anaconda and Chase Bank adventures in Vietnam seemed to reveal Mineral Deposits in the Central highlands, and offshore Oil Wells that now provide Vietman with resources that support their economy. Kissinger was hired to assemble this reference material about 1957.

My question is who is planning WWIII, it's outcome and post war world right now.

YAY! This is the kind of examination series I never want to end, just so enlightening.

Humanity, has been made materialist on purpose by a group of very greedy, people with a very narrow vision for humanity. Human beings are a lot more than greed and desire for luxery. Humanity's general nobility was down played, and supressed by the greedy who decided that they were the owners of everything, everywhere.,making "stuff: and possesions defining human beings. They did'nt have honourable goals for humanity ,instead they corrupted everything, making human beings the cheapest commodity. Wars the worst employment of human beings, sattisfying the greed of the controlling group. Endlessly slaughtering innocent human beings, destroying and controlling their economies. The greedy non humans shoulf take a good, hard look at their grotesque reflections in the mirror.

I'm not sure that liberalism promotes critical thinking. Liberalism advocates a particular set of 'values' which transcend the actual individual. When liberalism shifts into 'ideology' a form of Power emerges that marginalises dissenters'. Freedom of speech becomes conditional. Sound familiar? Classical liberalism was anti-democracy as in the 'tyranny of the majority' argument. Rather absurdly it takes on the classical Greek philosophical- political premise of Philosopher Kings. Only the most highly educated and morally superior should control the state. State control is exercised through its Institutions. Everyone is free to agree. Liberalism is so internally inconsistent, I'm amazed that anyone takes it seriously, other than, that the state needs to exist to legitimise property rights both within the state and world-wide. Where exactly does 'liberalism' end and 'neo-liberalism' begin?

So much great information, all of these gentlemen are amazing. Bravo!!! And thank you.

I am a sociologist and so I really appreciate you focusing on one of our classic theorists! I just ordered his book yesterday in order to make a video about it in order to spread his message in a public sociology forum. So glad to see others doing the same.

Managed democracy.

Good discussion but a bit rambling. I read Mills in grad school (anthropology) in mid 70s and found him wonderfully cogent and clear. Definitely opened my eyes. His great insight was to discern and describe in detail a clear-eyed view of “how things really work” in the U.S. But I think even he would be shocked to see that what he described is now far more massive, powerful and ingrained. As these guys explained, we’re talking about the power-elite/oligarchical structure comprised of the national political “club,” the post WWII American Empire geopolitical project, the think tanks, the web of relationships between money center corporate interests and defense research and industrial interests (the generals are just glorified errand boys so far as the the military industrial complex is concerned and are appeased so long as they get the hardware and weapons systems they want). These are the fundamental structural pillars of the USA. The rest is window dressing. Arguments over whether the U.S. is a democracy or a “constitutional republic” are silly and irrelevant.

I remember when I was in college (in Fall 1975) that we studied an article by C. Wright Mills. When it came time to discuss the article in class, the entire class agreed with Dr. Mills but the professor did not (or at least he did not say he did... I gather he wanted to keep his job).

Of course it was bound to become an Oligarchy. Old mindsets die hard. The transfer of a European power elite to the United States would ultimately end up with a power structure resembling the serfdom dynamic. These families/ institutions will always do what is in THEIR best interests.

FYI,today's American $ystem is called Democracy!Point of reference is James Traficant~in his 1993 speech,he stated that the US govt was suspended between 9 Mar 1933 - 5 Jun 1933;on the 5th June,1933 the new $ystem became DEMOCRACY=a Socialist/Communist order...!Even before that,in 1913,woodrow wilson was 👑 crowned as the 1st Emperor of the US, unanimously annointed by US Congress...!RIP Republic,1913~that's why there's the expression~IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY...!

excuse me mate, but the original inhabitance of north america, didn’t just disappear (freeing up arable land), they were slaughtered/murdered by the Europeans, using 19th century WMDs!!

What a video! It is a pleasure to hear people like you, guys, in US. So far from Coca Cola ideology! Thanks 😊

This is a fantastic series! - hopefully an eBook will be avaliable soon! This stuff will be eye-opening for most Yankees but as an Australian, it explains so much of my political experience of the last 70 years . .

I love your work Ben! Just a quick suggestion: try to make shorter clips from these long videos. That way, more people who don't have that much time watch it, and it also means more videos to monetize. Keep up the good work, REAL journalism is what the people need.

See Tragedy & Hope by Carroll Quigley gentlemen.

One major function of Walkmart (one of the most prominant members of the U.S. oligarchy) is video surveillance, which it conducts without the permission of its staff and customers it records, and then offers it up to the highest bidders.

Who has agency? You may think that an individual oligarch has agency, but what would really happen if Bill Gates or Warren Buffet tried to push things in the opposite direction? Unless he could persuade the rest of the oligarchs, he would be beating his head against a wall. We have to ask: WHY do the oligarchs hold the views they do? It may be personal choice for an individual, but for a group of oligarchs, their collective views are statistically determined.

Excellent series! What puzzles me is that documents you would expect to be top secret are publicly accessible (at least for a while). An example of this is the Rand Corporation 2019 document which lays out the plan to deal with Russia (I think it has now been removed). It is good that scholars have this facility, but surely the Russians and the Chinese must also have access to these same documents.

Malcolm Moos wrote the final speech for Eisenhower. He was a political scientist who studied at John's Hopkins University.

Having read Foreign Affairs for years, I remember seeing theories for attacking China explicitly stated in articles and commentaries in that magazine.

Excellent discussion. Thanks

This seems to be very much in sync with Emmanuel Todd's latest book "The Defeat of the West" where he summarises that US foreign policy is essentially oligarchic, with careerists essentially supporting it. He though clarifies that deep state theories have some limitations in explaining this oligarchic system. He also explains how the foreign policy elite needed enemies, such as after the collapse of the USSR, and constantly create wars for this reason.

i really appreciate the format & articulable knowledge you three share on these facets of history! well done!😊

Great episode! This added to my understanding of the "who" that made up the decision makers---ex CFR--Wall St.--Standard Oil/Rockefeller, at least in the WWII Bretton Woods era. and J.P. Morgan in the WWI era. To this point, I still don't know how they made all the pivotal adjustments, either pre-planned or winging it. Ex from WWI by wanting to get paid back by England, so we entered WWI, to pre and post WWII, transitioning into the war economy, the later transitioning to the petro dollar. I cannot tell if all these adjustments were pre planned or winged it.

This is so incredibly astounding! I can plot my own father's trajectory by these historical political, economic, military mix! And some of our own time overlying this boatload of decades' elites power hierachy decisions! Gigantic thanks! Great fun! Ben And all of you!

C Wright Mills is very famous in political science and sociology.

These guys say that up to the antebellum period, America was decentralized and Jeffersonian. What happened that we lost the Jeffersonian model? What is it that gave ascendancy to the oligarchs? The transformation was progressive: from Lincoln to FDR to the NeoCons and NeoMarxists of today, America was gradually but actually pretty quickly morphed into something far different than what most of the founders (Hamilton excluded) envisioned. I notice that there is not one mention of central banking in this presentation.

Didn't the integration of Business-Military-Government begin in WW1 when Woodrow Wilson made Bernard Baruch his "Czar of War Materials Acquisition & Supply".

"AGENCY": Is a subject/category to be Talked and talked... Thank you all! #LONGLIVERESISTANCE

all countries, everywhere, at all times are oligarchies to one degree or another. Mills is a great example of a man who wanted to end the "oligarchy", but his solutions were merely to replace one oligarchy with another--the New Soviet Man. No, he did not use that term, but he correctly defined his new kind of men as such. Pareto and other Italian authors cut right through the entire discussion by demonstrating that oligarchies are in essence non-hereditary aristocracies. In the US, that is really embodied in a few universities such as Harvard. In fact, since the 1960s, the US government is essentially a Harvard alumni club. Also, the concept that there is a difference between large corporations and government is hilarious. Large corporations do not make money by selling you good products or services, but by capturing the administrative state--which is who actually runs the USA--to prevent competition.

Enlightening! Very thought provoking. It's extremely difficult for an individual to come up with a corrective course but if there is already an alternative choice then we can all participate.

Nice job! I remember well during George H W Bush reign how saying the "L word" was demonized. Since then, it seems to me that "liberalism" became utterly lost to the understanding of US public. It was a concerted effort to bury, once and for all, any memory of the ideas that had nascently bloomed in the 60's & early 70's.

I found this discussion fascinating, especially the segment entitled "The Elite Theory" starting at 18:10. Well done!

Have to include Academia in there as well.

This series reflects why I never trusted postmodernism in the University - (though they have the right to their confused opinions).

I did a Japanese law subject where they used Mills' Power Elite to describe the LDP 'Iron Triangle'.

Great discussion!

How can I send a one off donation to Multipolarista or American exception?

"The Sociological Imagination " is a sensational book.

Learn math, real math.... There are only 4 types of points in a system(ANY SYSTEM). These points essentially state that any system, due to the way it is designed, will evolve towards stability or instability. America was designed towards instability... In fact, currently all societies have been designed to be unstable. It doesn't matter the details of why a society crashes when because that is just noise from the system doing what it does. Feedback cycles will wind the system towards destruction or salvation. But to design a stable system is a hard problem, can't do it ad hoc or with elementary ideas. The only question is, will this be the last society humans created. After all, nukes are the ultimate way to terminate a system.

The Famous 2014 study based on 20yr study run by Princeton University's Martin Gilens and Northwestern University's Benjamin Page concluded: Multivariate analysis strongly indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have by far the greatest influence on US Government Policy, while citizens based groups have little or no influence. Even when a clear majority of American citizens disagree with economic elites and/or their organized interests they invariably lose. Moreover because of the absurdly strong Status Quo Bias it makes no difference what policy changes the majority of Americans favor.

Listening to your preface, you talk about how Mills explained the struggle in a historical context, but he doesn't address the facts of history in his argument. It's difficult to structure constructs without the basic raw material. Briefly, the major areas that led to the centralization and consolidation of power in American are: 1. The "top-down" requirement in the conduct of the Civil War 2. The centralization of assets needed to build the new inventions of the Industrial Age from 1875 through 1900 - mass labor and resources needed in constructing railroads, electrifying cities and other “means of production.” The advent of the automobile and introduction of the production line reverberated through nearly all industries. 3. The need for the gathering of capital on a large scale beginning in the Civil War - both the North and South had to create financial bonds to sell to Europe (led by the Rothschilds) to finance the war. It set a pattern of government finance that extends into the 21st century, 4. The reliance on Wall Street to bail out the US government in 1893 and 1907. It turned to J.P. Morgan, the banker who ruled Wall Street, who had the power and influence to entice other bankers to pony up to buy government bonds to provide money to pay the government's bills. 5. Morgan told the government after 1907 that he and other Wall Streeters couldn't address multiple crises, couldn't plan for them and called on the government to institutionalize the mechanisms of the creation of money. 6. The US government responded by enacting the Income Tax and the Federal Reserve system. In this way, the government centralized enforced financing of the government by the public and, through the Federal Reserve, centralized the distribution of money within the economy by establishing the United States dollar as supreme. 7. The Progressive Movement begun in the late 1800's was a reaction against the centralization. The economic powers had left out requirements for the workers who produced the goods, built the railroads, and the autos. Child labor laws were enacted to protect the young; the 40 hour work week was a start of the movement to centralize labor. The trade union needed consolidation in order to clash with centralized business and the growing centralized government This is just a taste of the actual events in real time that increased the demands for centralization in all facets of American life. Those who worked their way into influence like the Rockefellers created rules that protected their influence and power. You couch your arguments in the language of Marxism that is highly theoretical in an attempt to create an overarching picture. It is an effort to conform actual history into the theories of a lazy man who spent most of his life mooching off others; and, who spent his time in the British libraries instead of experiencing the plight of labor first hand. That is the problem of Marxism. It is only ideology; it is not practical realism. As the interactions of the centers of power developed, ideology had little to do with formulation of planning and actions. Self-interest guided each party. Clashes were severe until World War II brought the realization that all the special interests must act in concert. It was the only practical way to bring about victory. During the 1930’s depression, the Progressives had set up the modern state through the New Deal. It became dominant in the country as a bulwark against the Soviets in the Cold War. There were skirmishes between Marxism utopianism and what is known as capitalism. The communists found that a frontal attack would not succeed. The dreaded capitalism is really no more than responsible people scrambling to find resources to make things, pay the suppliers of resources and have enough profit left over to continue to operate. Great centers of wealth in the oligarchy developed due to the expansion of the western economy,. They provided the money to finance the special interests of pooled participants in all three phases: business, labor and government. Focusing on the subsets of the military industrial complex, as an example, is to study the characteristics of the whole. I was born in 1950; I first developed a curiosity about national and international events when Sputnik was launched in 1957. It was a very big deal that stirred up everything. Since then, I’ve studied history, read encyclopedias volume by volume, cover by cover, and built a basis of knowledge that extends beyond the headlines on websites and the front pages of newspapers. Real meaning of actions come to light by reading accounts of eyewitnesses to history from different viewpoints of both participants and first-hand observers. Then secondary and tertiary reviews of events add texture and depth. New events would add context to the base already reviewed. I spent 38 years in international banking. It gave me a front row seat to the clashes and interactions of the elements of society and civilization that you are exploring. My conclusion is that to understand the oligarchy, to understand the Deep State, to understand why JFK was executed in public on a sunny afternoon, why major events take place, is to understand that the map to reality is pieced together by learning and analyzing historical facts then connecting the dots. Given a broad enough range of variables, civilization can be viewed by the decisions made at the centers of power. For decades the oligarchy provided a workable engine to provide "normality." It fostered the development of the middle class. The work ethic of this industrious class created disposable income to create new goods and services. New markets developed to satisfy consumer conveniences. When Obama introduced Marxist philosophy and the Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky, the United States government derailed the mutual symbiosis of the oligarchy of the three centers of power. The country’s outward power is now fragmented by irrational sanctioning and war. The nations of the world have turned their back on the United States. Consolidations of power are occurring in the Eastern Hemisphere that are ascendant. The American Empire is nearly destroyed by the demands of Marxism over rationality. The western finance and business oligarchs will consolidate their power and sit down to parley with the new powers of the BRICS. They will continue and land on their feet. America will be left behind. The structures left in the United States and Europe will crumble into what we now see in the ruins of ancient Greece and Rome. It will be regarded as the result of reckless hubris and the arrogant belief that power is limitless.

Wonderful news Mr Ben. Thanks for the truth.

Love this PANEL!!

This conversation is still replete with how the "right" is the lowest of the low, stupid, hardly human. Until you can break out of that, you will hover below what is really "liberal" thought. At about 41:00 the attitude that private schools are never left-wing enough because they "don't like anti-imperialists and anti-capitalists" is absolutely laughable to anyone familiar with them.

THOSE Whom. Are working out their Goals. *The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. (ARE INTERNATIONALISTS) *Revelation 3::9. *Gen. Albert Pike's 1871 Letter to Macini

Oligarchy (from Ancient Greek ὀλιγαρχία (oligarkhía) 'rule by few'; from ὀλίγος (olígos) 'few' and ἄρχω (árkhō) 'to rule, command') is a conceptual form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. From a Republic, to a Democracy to an Oligarchy in 67 years, all in one lifetime..

The founders of America were socialists who detested the notion of democracy and popular vote. John Adams is on record saying "Democracy will infallibly destroy civilization." The system is meant to make people live under the illusion that they have a choice and they have a voice. The two parties are in fact catering to corporations, not to the people who vote in elections. Mills was definitely right, but the same Wall Street capitalists, large corporations, and military industrial complex that are the actual leaders of America are controlling the media and the distribution of information in general, the education system included. The people of America and the people of the world are tricked into living according to a false perception of reality. The only thing that would liberate their thought process from that is a public acknowledgement of this reality. For as promised by someone who was actually teaching against religion, the truth will set everyone free.

Thank You for reporting the issues and striving for the TRUTH!

Thanks. 😊

Great points raised by Aaron Good, very interesting and enlightening listening to him.

US democracy: you are getting the same can of stale beans you got over a century ago, they just change the label on it every 4 years.

Thank you for this captivating conversation.

wonderful talk gents 👍

Very good session, informative and applicably today

The most famous sociologist who created the field was Dr.WEB DuBois.

❤❤❤❤Ben norton (very informative with his great opinions)

? bring democracy into business or take business out of democracy?

Excellent, and thank you very much for spreading this critically important information! Power to the truth-tellers!

The meaning of the word liberal changed in the United States during the era of New Deal dominance. There is no sense ranting about it. If you are going to be understood by a general audience, you will have to use this word as it is generally used in contemporary political discourse. Many words change in meaning over time. For example, prevent used to mean precede circa 1600. Just get used to it.

Thank you for this series. For me you have brought history and facts into an inner knowing. I'd love to see it made into a movie, perhaps similar to the style of the Big Short, to reach larger audiences. Too many of us are in the dark.

Thank you guys for sharing such vital information. You peeps remind me of, " I never let schooling interfere with my education" of course y'all know who sed dat

This is nearly a hour long. Could you do a summary in 3 to 5 minutes that would give viewers if they want to watch the longer version? Thank you for do this!

Now you would have to include Big Pharma.

Great discussion. You guy's cut through to the core issues.

You need Mao's view on dialectic philosophy. You need to look at the major contradiction; for imperialism, the major contradiction is the struggle between colonizers and colonizers, not capitalists and proletariat. Capitalism has been elevated to imperialism. The major contradiction needs to be resolved to have another contradiction mentioned by Marx.

Thanks, gentleman, for this important discussion. C. Wright Mills had clear insights into what had happened and what was happening and the catastrophic results. The emperor truly has no clothes as you point out. I fear this country is still blinded by American Exceptionalism the true religion of this Empire.

It is enlightening to learn such important analysis in order for a retired teacher as myself to understand why US government is promoting war crimes / genocide in so many countries. From Italy a big thank you.

I'd be skeptical of any self proclaimed scholar who got their degree from an american university in a humanities like feild since the mid 60's.. did not finish watching video

Great series guys thank you very much.

Funny how Aaron's face is always bluish. Great work, though!

Thank you for making your analysis available to us.

❤❤❤

The UK and some members of the EU are just the same

C. Wright Mills is hardly 'little known'!! I studied him as a cornerstone theorist in Sociology as an undergrad. I still have a copy of that seminal work.

Required reading for liberal arts students at the University of Iowa in the 1970's.

It is not accurate to call the financial oligarchs - the men with agency - "right wing." In fact, they are predominantly LEFT wing. The oligarchs have backed racial and sexual equality, affirmative action, high rates of immigration, socially liberalizing entertainment (including legalized pornography), and economic immigration with atheist ruled China. What is "right wing" about that agenda??? And we could certainly add the deindustrialization of the United States to that list (a result of the oligarchs' support for economic and financial globalization), which is obviously not a right wing view as we can see from the enthusiastic right wing patriot support for Donald Trump's industrial policy rhetoric. And it is glaringly obvious that the corporate owned media AND social media are pushing a decidedly left of center agenda, especially on the issues that define left and right more markedly than mundane tax and spending issues, that is, the cultural issues.