{"id":282,"date":"2025-05-08T23:24:01","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T06:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/?p=282"},"modified":"2025-06-07T23:25:48","modified_gmt":"2025-06-08T06:25:48","slug":"extreme-wealth-is-not-compatible-with-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/08\/extreme-wealth-is-not-compatible-with-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Extreme wealth is not compatible with democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Extreme wealth is not compatible with democracy. The ultrarich are cushioned from fluctuations in the political landscape that can have life-or-death consequences for regular people. Even if a billionaire lost their job and got hit by a truck tomorrow, they would be able to afford healthcare, send their kids to college, and provide safe living accommodations for their families, and still be earning interest from their wealth. On the other hand, many regular citizens are one <\/a>missed paycheck away from homelessness, not to mention the millions who are already homeless and without resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, due to fundamental changes in the brain that go along with extreme wealth, the interests of capital accumulation and the common good are directly at odds with one another. It has been shown in multiple studies that material wealth decreases empathy, making it difficult for the ultrarich to even understand the issues that affect regular people on a daily basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, rather than the ultrarich participating in the political process like other people, or through means such as super-PACs that are not available to the common citizen, I believe that we should have a social contract that requires a sacrifice: hoard wealth, or participate in the political process. Not both. If a person is able to exercise personal restraint in wealth accumulation, let them participate along with those who are just trying to survive. Otherwise, Let them acknowledge their privilege and bow out. Edit: the legal term is \u201crecuse themselves.\u201d It\u2019s the right thing to do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Extreme wealth is not compatible with democracy. The ultrarich are cushioned from fluctuations in the political landscape that can have life-or-death consequences for regular people. Even if a billionaire lost their job and got hit by a truck tomorrow, they would be able to afford healthcare, send their kids to college, and provide safe living … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paor1p-4y","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":789,"url":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2026\/06\/22\/on-wokeness-and-its-opposite\/","url_meta":{"origin":282,"position":0},"title":"on wokeness, and its opposite","author":"Ryk Groetchen","date":"June 22, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"to be woke is to have a visceral sense of justice, as reliable as the senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste, and cognition\u2014that allows one to recognize that the current language of justice is inadequate, as justice is not applied equitably across all who would access it; and to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chronicle"","block_context":{"text":"chronicle","link":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/category\/chronicle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/img_1519.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/img_1519.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/img_1519.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/img_1519.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/img_1519.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":285,"url":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/18\/this-machine-kills-fascists\/","url_meta":{"origin":282,"position":1},"title":"This machine kills fascists","author":"Ryk Groetchen","date":"April 18, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Woody Guthrie was a DJ. 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