Paul & Kiki's Guide to Vacationing in Italy by Paul Stuart

Theodore Roosevelt warned against “a small class of enormously wealthy and economically powerful men, whose chief object is to hold and increase their power.” Woodrow Wilson declared, “If there are men in this country big enough to own the government of the United States, they are going to own it.” In fact, if you read what prominent figures said during the Progressive Era, many expressed views that would be hysterically denounced as class warfare today. And our nation basically invented progressive taxation, which was traditionally seen not just as a source of revenue but also as a way to limit excessive wealth. People on the right often insist that expressing any concern about highly concentrated wealth is “ un-American.” The truth, however, is that worrying about the dangers great wealth poses for democracy is very much part of the American tradition.

They are: the relationship between Justice Clarence Thomas and the billionaire Harlan Crow the rise and seeming decline of Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign the trials (literally) of Fox News and the Muskopalypse at Twitter.įirst, some notes on the role of vast wealth in a democracy. This, I’d argue, is the common theme running through four major stories that have been playing out over the past few months. But when they try to exercise that power they can trap themselves - supporting politicians who will, if they can, create a society the rich themselves wouldn’t want to live in. The rich are different from you and me: They have immensely more power.

Paul & Kiki's Guide to Vacationing in Italy by Paul Stuart