When people are struggling and discontented they tend to vote against the sitting government. Intuitively it makes sense. Why keep going with a government when things aren’t working out for us? Let’s give the other lot a go. It’s logical, right?
Unfortunately this naive optimism that a change of government will make things better is the biggest driver of democratic collapse and the trend towards right-wing populist authoritarianism that is playing out across the world. Discontent leading to votes for change is predictable, and the billionaire class now factor in this predictability as they scheme to keep the systems rigged in their favour.
almost all the wealth that flows into the accounts of billionaires is not payment for their work or skills but revenue from assets they own
Most of us who grew up in Western-style democracies were told a story that anyone can become wealthy if we are smart enough and work hard. We were told that our income levels were a direct result of our efforts: if someone is rich it’s because they worked hard and smart and they deserve it; if someone is poor it’s because they are lazy or dumb and they deserve it. There is a grain of truth in this story, and it was certainly more true in the past when there was less inequality. But it ignores the fact almost all the wealth that flows into the accounts of billionaires is not payment for their work or skills but revenue from assets they own – property, shares in companies or banks, intellectual property rights etc.
If you have ever played the game Monopoly you will know that it starts as a level playing-field where we win or lose depending on our skill and luck. But as the game progresses the odds are increasingly stacked towards those who own the most properties.
Our present economic system is like joining a Monopoly game that has been played continuously for several generations. Occasionally someone can start with little and succeed through a lot of luck, but most people are unable to get ahead and can only stay in the game by borrowing more and more money (or are supported by governments who are borrowing more and more money).
Billionaires are always looking for good investments and for many years the best investments have been in politics
Billionaires are always looking for good investments and for many years the best investments have been in politics – either through directly funding political parties who are favourable to their interests, or through investing in the media channels which influence how people vote. Almost all the mainstream media is now owned and controlled by billionaires and they also own the social media which many people trust more than the mainstream media despite all evidence pointing to social media being an even bigger source of disinformation and manipulation.
A lot of people are struggling right now. Over the last few years wages have not kept up with increasing living costs – particularly housing. This discontent is real and understandable – and ripe for exploitation by the oligarch billionaires. Donald Trump was masterful at listening to people’s pain and disillusionment and reflecting it back to them saying “I understand your frustration with educated elites who make lots of promises and then don’t deliver! I will be different, I alone can drain the swamp because I understand it and I’m not part of the establishment”. Trump understood the deep longing in people to Make America Great Again.
Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, saw how people were responding to Trump and backed him, along with Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, the Koch brothers and a slew of other big business interests behind Project 2025. Now, with the Trump Presidency they are collecting a massive return on their investment. Trump and Musk are dismantling the government agencies and laws designed to protect the environment, public health, workers rights, as well as the agencies that can hold the corporations publicly accountable to pay their fair taxes and fines for bad behaviour.
In the past, this tilting of government policy to benefit the billionaires has been more subtle and slow. After all, if they make things too hard for ordinary people their government will be voted out at the next election. The speed at which the Trump administration has implemented Project 2025 makes me suspicious that they have no intention of peacefully giving up power in four years time no matter what the public sentiment is. Democracy is dependent on checks and balances, on a separation of powers between the law-makers, the judiciary and the executive branches. The current US administration is rapidly removing those check and balances and bringing the judges and all levels of government administration under their political control so that there will be no independent judiciary and no independent election officials administering the next election.
This is what Putin has done in Russia, what Orban has done in Hungary and others are on the path towards doing in many other countries.
In Australia as we move into the campaign for our next election these forces are already at play. Australian oligarchs like Gina Rinehart and Clive Palmer are investing heavily in our politics. They are counting on us being so discontented that only focus on getting Labor out and don’t look too closely at what kind of change we might be inviting in.
