When were the wealthy NOT in power in the US?

[Stinky The Clown]

Really? When was the US government *ever* been made of a majority of ordinary people?

[HughMoran]

1. We all know the answer

...is "never".

[jobycom]

2. Same answer as "When were the wealthy NOT in power?"

[izquierdista]

4. Selected locations at selected times

France 1789-1800, Russia 1917-1991, China 1949-1980

Other than those aberrations, they pretty much have had a lock all through history.

[jobycom]

8. Those periods defined wealth differently, that's all.

The Bourgeoisie found a way to collectively squash the old nobility. They were periods of recognition of the shift of wealth. The wealthy were still in control.

[izquierdista]

9. Oh no, definitely no.

That's when the wealthy overplayed their hand and got their heads chopped off, shot, or sent to the farms to shovel shit. While the Revolution was going on, it was definitely hazardous to be wealthy and they had definitely lost control. But you are right in one sense, as the revolutionary fervor settled down, greedy people began to learn the new set of rules and use it to their advantage. A co-worker of mine was sent to work as a peasant instead of being able to go to middle and high school. But eventually he was able to go to college, emigrate to the United States and now he has a McMansion in a nice subdivision.

[jobycom]

10. That's too simplistic.

What you had was a shift in what consituted wealth. The nobility's wealth was based on land, but as the feudal system died out, money came to replace land as the basis of wealth. Land represented food and protection in the feudal eras of each of those nations, but as non-feudal governments began to emerge and people became safer and agricultural techniques became more productive and a diversity of trade and production developed, land became less about safety and food and more about power and control of the peasants. Nobles, who achieved their status by being the toughest fighters and/or the best agricultural administrators, by this revolutionary point (different teams, but the same developmental point for all three) had become superfluous. They were important only because the law claimed they were, and they used the law to exploit the workers. The real power of wealth, though, had shifted to the merchants and lenders and skilled professionals. Towns became more the center of real power, but the landed aristocracy still held legal control, and used that control to oppress rather than protect. It was better for peasants to move to towns and learn a trade than to stay on the farms.

Each of those revolutions was lead by the bourgeouisie, even if they were fueled by the furor of the peasants and proles. The new wealth was using the poor to defeat the old wealth. The definition of power and wealth shifted, but those in power were still in power because of their wealth. Now and then a talented peasant or prole became a leader, but they usually also became rich when they did.

Those revolutions, like most, weren't the poor against the rich. They were the new rich against the old rich, and the poor were the pawns used by both sides. Wealth still equaled power. Wealth was just redefined.

[Occam Bandage]

11. The wealthy were certainly in control during those time periods.

The only difference was that wealth was concentrated in different hands than before.

[theoldman]

3. Before the White man came.

The leaders of Native American tribes were old wise men not old rich men.

[Lyric]

5. When they were being taxed at 90-odd percent?

I find it difficult to believe that they were fully in power then, or they'd have never allowed such a thing.

:shrug:

[wiggs]

6. Wealthy always in power, but extent of inequality varies and that is what we

should be focused on. Thom Hartmann has spoken and written about this and about what inequality affects in society.

[Uncle Joe]

7. One brief afternoon on March 4th 1829

<snip>

"The White House was opened to all for a post-inaugural reception, and was filled by the public even before Jackson arrived on horseback.<1> Soon afterward, Jackson left by a window<1><4> or a side entrance,<5> and proceeded to Gadsby's Hotel in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. The crowd continued to descend into a drunken mob, only dispersed when bowls of liquor and punch were placed on the front lawn of the White House.<4> "I never saw such a mixture," said Joseph Story, then a justice on the Supreme Court: "The reign of King Mob seemed triumphant."<1> The White House was left a mess, including several thousand dollars worth of broken china.<5>"

<snip>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson_1829_presidential_inauguration