In the video (linked through the main word below), Robert Reich quotes a dictionary's definition of oligarchy:
government of and by a few at the top, who exercise power for their own benefit
One of America's 'founding doctrines' is that "all people are created equal," but some simple logic shows that that's NOT TRUE! Maybe 'back when we were just off the boat,' we were equal with all the others off that boat; but ... even then, if your father 'owned' the boat then you were 'more equal than' the stowaway whose mother was the boat-owner's house-maid!
But America's the land of opportunity, yes? 'Oligarchy' seems to imply that no one can join the class of individuals "at the top." And 'people who exercise power for their own benefit'—isn't that what "Democracy" is for?
The word “Oligarchy” carries the scent of “Few, Small, Little + to Rule” (Government by the few).
... But I'm still searching—You know anything about how this word developed into 'meaning something different from the meanings traced above'? Comment below!
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