Decades ago, America’s wealthy backed a Republican establishment that believed in fiscal conservatism, anti-communism, and constitutional democracy. But today’s billionaire class is pushing a radically anti-democratic agenda for America — backing Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen, calling for restrictions on voting, and even questioning the value of democracy.
Peter Thiel, the billionaire tech financier who is among those leading the charge, writes “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.”
Thiel is using his fortune to squelch democracy. He donated $15 million to the successful Republican Ohio senatorial primary campaign of J.D. Vance, who alleges that the 2020 election was stolen and that Biden’s immigration policy has meant “more Democrat voters pouring into this country.” And Thiel has donated at least $10 million to the Arizona Republican primary race of Blake Masters, who also claims Trump won the 2020 election and admires Lee Kuan Yew, the authoritarian founder of modern Singapore.
The former generation of wealthy conservatives backed candidates like Barry Goldwater, who wanted to conserve American institutions. Thiel and his fellow billionaires in the anti-democracy movement […]
I don’t remember the past as self-styled Democrat Robert Reich evidently does. Anti-democratic views, as explained by Duke historian Donna Maclean, have a long legacy in America. The notion that the rich should be free to do as they choose was propounded by the nation’s slaveholders in their quest to treat humans as their property and the idea has never died away. The Republican Party of the 1965-75, after their bout of hysterical paranoid anti-communism culminating in the Goldwater nomination, settled down to be a opposition party, satisfied with merely throwing sand in the gears of popular legislation. This seems to be the era Reich and others such as Nancy Pelosi and the ridiculous Steny Hoyer are glorifying. Yes, today “Democrats” are like the Republicans of my youth, with a few giant personalities across the political spectrum and a reactive rather than positive legislative agenda. Other than voting for war and tax cuts for the rich, the Pelosicrats and Clinton Americans have accomplished nothing. And nothing means nothing for their voters. Two parties competing to represent the 1% — for the donations, of course.
We will NOT let Mastriano win the election ! We will fight to the bitter end.