TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2025
Rule by opening act: There seem to be quite a few different names for what might be called "rule by the rich." The leading authority on such systems starts with this familiar term:
Plutocracy
A plutocracy (from Ancient Greek πλοῦτος (ploûtos) 'wealth' and κράτος (krátos) 'power') or plutarchy is a society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income. It can be considered a specific form of oligarchy (rule by the few) where the ruling few are wealthy. The first known use of the term in English dates from 1631. It is not rooted in any established political philosophy.
And so on from there. That same source offers this alternative term:
Oligarchy
Oligarchy (from Ancient Greek ὀλιγαρχία (oligarkhía) 'rule by few'; from ὀλίγος (olígos) 'few' and ἄρχω (árkhō) 'to rule, command') is a form of government in which power rests with a small number of people. Leaders of such regimes are often referred to as oligarchs, and generally are characterized by having titles of nobility or high amounts of wealth.
[....]
Aristotle pioneered the use of the term as meaning rule by the rich, contrasting it with aristocracy, arguing that oligarchy was a corruption of aristocracy.
Still according to that source, "kleptocracy" refers to "government by corrupt leaders who use political power to steal the wealth of the people." But then again, also this:
Kakistocracy
Kakistocracy (/ˌkækɪˈstɒkrəsi/ KAK-ist-OK-rə-see) is government by the worst, least qualified, or most unscrupulous people.
The word was coined as early as the 17th century and derives from two Greek words, kákistos (κάκιστος, 'worst') and krátos (κράτος, 'rule'), together meaning 'government by the worst people.'
As far as we know, there is no established term for the form of government toward which our country is currently trending—government by self-assured male comedians. This thought came to mind when we read this report about the most recent proclamation by the extremely thoughtful Jon Stewart:
‘I Cannot F*cking Believe It!’ Jon Stewart Loses It on Democratic Senators Who Caved to Republicans
The Daily Show host Jon Stewart tore into eight Democratic and Independent senators who voted with Republicans to end the government shutdown on Monday, despite previously stating they would not back down.
“I can’t f*cking believe it!” Stewart shouted during his monologue. “And what, you ask, is ‘it’? Well, ‘it’ is the Democrats. You remember the Democrats? They shut down the government last month.”
It doesn't even have to be male comedians. Here goes a second report about someone who largely started out as a comedic monologist:
I Have No Faith’: Whoopi Goldberg Torches Democrats Over Shutdown Compromise With GOP
The View‘s Whoopi Goldberg slammed the eight Senate Democrats who “threw in the towel by siding with the GOP” over ending the government shutdown.
Senate Democrats held out for 40 days, refusing to vote in favor of the continuing resolution until Republicans agreed to negotiate on Affordable Care Act subsidies. That came to an end Sunday night when enough Democrats voted in favor of reopening the government without any guarantees on health care.
Gildberg's analysis is described a bit later in the report
We're flirting with a form of government in which we turn our powers of analysis over to gaggles of ranting comedians and comic actors. According to experts, a comedian could be a source of sound judgment, but some comedians aren't.
That isn't stopping our current array of comedians from loudly voicing their views about the end to the government shutdown. To us, it doesn't seem all that obvious whether the shutdown should have continued. Luckily, many of our comedians have been able to formulate views in which there's no room for doubt.
Fox News has spent years building its messaging product around the brilliance of male comedians and former professional "wrestlers." Other comedians rule the fruited plain through their thoughtful podcasts.
In this way, we the people are flirting with a form of government which has no name. "Sarcasticocracy" has been suggested, but the search goes on.
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To continue the discussion, from Yastreblansky:
ReplyDeletehttps://yastreblyansky.substack.com/p/were-all-democratic-socialists-now
ReplyDeleteWhat politicians do is calculating cost-benefit analysis of every move they make. Whatever is most beneficial to them, personally, is what they do.
Believe it, and you will rarely be surprised by what they do.
But then Jon Stewart is a comedian; he says what his writers tell him to say. So, why is it interesting, what he says?
This is not true. There are many examples of politicians showing political courage by voting for or enacting measures that they know may end their political careers or damage them at the polls. Liz Cheney is a recent example. I think MTG is gonzo but also showing political courage against MAGAdom right now.
DeletePoliticians vary and there are corrupt, self-serving ones and also ones who think of their jobs as public service and self-sacrifice and who enjoy making a difference in people's lives. Cynically concluding that they are all alike is unfair, misleading, and a form of lazy thinking, in my opinion. I don't like Jon Stewart much.
They are all corrupt. A honest one will could never get elected.
DeleteBut that's good. I wouldn't want to have politicians "who enjoy making a difference in people's lives". That sounds horrible. And very dangerous.
What do you gain by writing moronic stuff like this here?
DeleteI gain your attention, which is more precious than gold.
Delete"Nobody knows what magnets are," says our president.
ReplyDeleteThanks to our President I was able to refinance my house for fifty years!!!
DeleteYou won't be building any equity for the first 25 of those years, so you won't get anything for your regular payments if you sell your house. That means you can't move to be near your grown children, or take a better job. You are stuck with your starter home. What will the housing market be like if no one can sell their 50-year homes?
DeleteWhat are magnets?
Delete"Magnets work due to the movement of electrons in atoms, which creates tiny magnetic fields. In most materials, these atomic fields are random and cancel each other out, but in magnetic materials, these fields can be aligned. When a sufficient number of these atomic magnetic fields, called magnetic domains, are aligned in the same direction, they produce a large-scale magnetic field, causing the material to become a magnet. This alignment is why magnets have a north and south pole, and why opposite poles attract while like poles repel. "
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/shorts/cRWSY7zQKtQ
In permanent magnets, it’s not the motion of the electrons, it’s their spin. In electromagnets, it is indeed their motion.
DeleteNeal Gabler said this about Somerby in 2016:
ReplyDelete"Indispensible howler
Orchids to Bob Somerby and his site, dailyhowler. For those who critique the media as well as those who simply consume them, it is a required stop. That said, Somerby, a former professional comedian, is very much an acquired taste. He is something of a crank, going off on seemingly bizarre tangents like the reporting on Einstein’s theory of relativity, or analyzing educational testing (Somerby says he used to teach fifth graders). He can be rough and intemperate and occasionally hysterical, though, let’s face it, the media’s misdeeds call for that treatment and more. He is a name-caller. (He has even called me a few names along the way.) He can be unfair at times, and he tends to coddle grass roots right-wingers as victims rather than perpetrators. And those on the left should be forewarned that he can be as tough if not tougher on the so-called liberal media – Rachel Maddow has become a favorite target – than on the conservative media, which are so far beyond the pale, they seem not to be worth his effort. Indeed, if he has a cause, other than setting the record straight, it is hoping to pressure the liberal media into not being as puerile as the conservative media. He isn’t holding his breath.
And yet, despite his faults, Somerby is indispensable – to my mind the single most important media critic in America — just, unfortunately, not its most effective. He began his website way back in 1998 when the Clintons were being hammered by the press – and not, he routinely points out, just the right-wing press, but the mainstream and even the so-called liberal press. It was malfeasance of the highest order. With Al Gore’s nomination, Somerby kicked into even higher gear, giving an invaluable daily account of how the press was sinking Gore’s candidacy with lies, innuendo, snark, and just plain hatred. If you want to know how George W. Bush got elected, look here. And, by the way, Somerby isn’t timid about naming names. He has continued raking through the press and raking it over the coals. I have no idea who finances his site, but it is both omnivorous and detailed in its coverage. Somerby doesn’t miss a thing (he seems to have complete transcripts of every news show), and he never lets up.
If the media were forced to answer prosecutor Somerby’s daily indictments, we would be living in a very different political world – one without Donald Trump and probably a whole lot of other folks. Of course, the media just ignore him. But you shouldn’t, tangents, rants, name-calling and all. His is an exegesis on the press without which the press would get away with murder with no witnesses."
This is a reminder of what Somerby used to be, back when his essays were discussed by others and he was widely read by those interested in politics. Then he began carrying water for Trump, let his racist and sexist opinions loose and became a one-note critic of liberals while excusing Trump supporters, Fox (which he said had the best facts) and stopped thinking. I don't know why that happened, because I don't know the man, but his influence diminished as he became more of a crank and less of a coherent media critic.
You're the crank!
DeleteFor all we know, Somerby is no longer writing the Daily Howler. His current essays are nothing like what he used to write, in content or style. People have always complained that he was hard to read, but now he is just incoherent. Anyone on Trump's staff could be ghostwriting for him.
DeleteCould be AI.
Delete"As far as we know, there is no established term for the form of government toward which our country is currently trending—government by self-assured male comedians. "
ReplyDeletePeople like Bill Maher, Greg Gutfeld, Colbert and Kimmel, Seth Meyers, Whoopi, Jon Stewart, and others are not governing our country. Whoopi is not male (but typical of Somerby to not notice female comedians much).
It would be normalizing Trump, Hegseth, Patel, Noem etc. to call them comedians when their actions are actively harming people. They are tyrants. They are not governing either, but using the government for their own purposes without thinking about the impact on the populace. Somerby is perhaps not thinking about what the word "governing" means.
These comedians are just another opinion in a sea of opinions being voiced by podcasters, substack writers, academics, actors and celebrities, athletes and musicians, and pundits and experts of all kinds (Krugman, Joyce Vance, Nate Silver). Somerby's lame joke doesn't land because it trivializes the quandary our nation is in, being looted by powerful men at considerable cost to us all.
Somerby should show some empathy for what we are all going through, especially those least able to withstand the disruption wrought by Trump and his henchmen and comrades in crime.
It doesn't matter what label anyone applies to Mamdani, as long as he makes life better for residents of NYC, as I believe he will. Meanwhile, it is an insult to the hopes of New Yorkers when Somerby goes off on this binge of name-calling, along with the morons on Fox News.
Mamdani is male.
DeleteMamdani is not a comedian.
DeleteHow are plutocracy and oligarchy different?
ReplyDeletePlutocrats are the richest people in the country. Oligarchs aren’t necessarily rich.
DeleteAnd there might be many powerful rich people. Then it’s a plutocracy but not an oligarchy.
DeleteThx
DeleteHere is Somerby pretending to define a few forms of government as a joke set up, after say a few days ago that democracy is a fuzzy concept. I'm glad Somerby finds our nation's situation so funny. It seems odd to me that he calls Gutfeld crass when he himself thinks blowing up our democratic system is a big yuk yuk yuk.
ReplyDeleteSomerby commenting on comedians commenting on politics. Priceless.
ReplyDeleteWhy do anti-Trump and pro-Hamas go together. The biggest story in the UK is the BBC scandal that their reporting was biased and inaccurate. Framed and distorted stories to make Trump look bad. They framed and distorted stories to make Hamas look good. It looks like UK liberals support Hamas and oppose Israel.
ReplyDeleteMake Aliyah.
DeleteKing Orange Lucifer conspired to corruptly overturn the election of 2020. He organized a "stop the steal" rally at the US Capital which ended in violent attempted insurrection. King Orange Chickenshit sat on his fat miserable losing ass and watched the violence he instigated for hours while everyone close to him begged him to call off his dogs. And the fat fucker refused as he watched his supporters attack the Capitol police and people were killed.
DeleteKing Orange Chickenshit was indicted for his crimes by Jack Smith. So the Chickenshit coward ran to the Supreme Court and begged them to shield him from facing the consequences of his crimes by granting him immunity, and the corrupt SC6 unbelievably gave him what he begged. Notice of course, Orange Chickenshit did not ever attempt to defend his actions in a court of law, and notice unbelievably the American voting public were denied the evidence of his crimes before going to the polls.
King Lucifer then proceeded to pardon all the motherfucking criminals who attacked the Nation's Capital on Jan. 6.
Just the other day, Orange Lucifer decided to grant pardons to all his co-conspirators (over 70) who were involved in his various criminal schemes to steal the election.
Dickhead in Cal comes here today to wave in our faces the fact that the motherfucker is now extorted the BBC. How the fuck can you possibly defame that arch criminal is beyond me. Please put me on the jury. Go fuck yourself, Dickhead.
Please don’t insult David. That will never win him over.
DeleteSome Americans may not realize how big this scandal is in the UK. BBC's top person and its top news person were forced out. Some think the PM may have to resign.
DeleteIt’s quite rich that the asshole DiC worships, the one who together with Rupert Murdoch’s lackeys promulgated a lie about Obama’s birthplace, should be suing anyone for a falsehood.
DeleteYes, but devil worshippers like yourself are all up on it, Dickhead. I just watched a 60 Minutes full hour interview of King Orange Chickenshit. 60 Minutes used to be the gold standard of journalism. Now they are too frightened to challenge this fucking fascist. What the fuck do I care about BBC, Dickhead, my own country has been taken over by a fascist.
DeleteDavid in Cal,
DeleteOver here, in the USA, we have the opposite scandal. One where the media frames and distorts stories to make Trump not look like the failed businessman, racist, grifting, sexual predator he has been for his entire adult life.
Anonymouse 7:06am, Democrats did well in the midterms and younger voters are moving away from the president due to the deportations. Your settings have always been calibrated to batshite crazy mode. I’ve always suspected that you and David are a vaudevillesque internet act.
Delete
DeleteHillary (7:06) got triggered. She is an old sick lady, hated by her husband and most of everyone. Some empathy, please.
Cecelia, yesterday Laura Ingraham interviewed King Orange Chickenshit and presented to the American public about 15 minutes of pure unadulterated gibberish.
DeleteYesterday we learned that this asshole stole the Resolute Desk from the Oval Office and put it in his cheap golf club in Florida. You can't make this shit up.
A few weeks ago, King Orange Chickenshit ordered the entire East Wing of the WH to be demolished without so much as a permit. He just fucking did it.
Speaking of Great Britain:
The United Kingdom is no longer sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in US military strikes and believes the attacks are illegal, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
What the fuck is wrong with you and Dickhead?
“ QUEENS, NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)—In what has become a Veterans Day tradition for him, on Tuesday Donald J. Trump laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Podiatrist.
ReplyDeleteTrump made his annual pilgrimage to pay homage to the heroic doctors who issued bogus diagnoses to ensure that their privileged patients never answered the call of duty.
In an emotional tribute, Trump thanked the fallen foot specialists who bravely risked their medical licenses so that others facing military service could be free.
Choking back tears, he said, “They gave everything so people like me could give nothing.”
Last year's budget added 1.8 trillion dollars to the debt ($6.8 trillion in expenditures, $5 trillion taken in). The overall wealth of the 1% is $46 trillion. You can call them oligarchs or plutocrats or your highnesses for all I care. But if their effective tax rates were not so low going back to the Reagan years, the national debt would not be nearly what it is. That this glaring problem is not the center of all efforts at this point to control the national debt is a reflection of how well the rich control the narrative. The fact that Peter Theil will pay no taxes on 5 billion he has amassed in a Roth is a glaring example made all the more ridiculous by the fact that Palantir is profitable thanks to other people's taxpayer dollars. Pathetic.
ReplyDeleteThe overall wealth has nothing to with tax rates, Democrat.
Delete"if their effective tax rates were not so low going back to the Reagan years, the national debt would not be nearly what it is"
What would it be, larger? smaller? You don't say, Democrat. Not only Mexicans can migrate; what would prevent that 1% from migrating to Ireland or some other pace, and paying zero taxes to the US of A?