Oligarchy in the US Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Oligarchy in the US - Essay Example The audience of the article is the average American populace. Aristotle, credited for the term oligarchy, defines oligarchy as the exercise of power by wealthy citizens, which causes intense political disparities that essentially accompany excessive material inequalities. While the average American populace constitutes a large percentage of Americans as compared to the wealthy, they still have no voice in decision making concerning economic and political issues in America. As a result, economic disparities continue to persist within Americans, and the average American populace must understand their role in public policy making. Jeffrey Winters and Benjamin Page present evidence that the United States is both democratic and oligarchic. The fact that oligarchs can operate separately without knowing each other is evidence that oligarchy can go unnoticed in several instances (Winters and Page 739). In addition, the extent of economic disparity in the United States proves the authors points about oligarchy. Even so, the authors affirm that there is significant substantiation from academic research that public policy in the United States is not set by oligarchs, but rather reacts strongly to the inclination of normal citizens. The coexistence of oligarchy and democracy is evident because, at times the decision of people counts, while in other cases, the viewpoint of the wealthy sways public