编辑“美国”（章节）

==Government==
[[File:US Plutocracy Flag.jpg|alt=U.S. flag restyled to illustrate the plutocratic and corporatist nature of the political system|thumb|U.S. flag restyled to illustrate the plutocratic and corporatist nature of the political system; the 50 stars which represent each state have been replaced with the logos of large monopolistic corporations.]]The US political system is a ''de facto'' plutocracy; a government entirely controlled by the wealthy. The richest three Statesians have more money than the poorest 160 million combined.<ref>{{News citation|author=Tom Kertscher|newspaper=PolitiFact|title='The wealthiest three families now own more wealth than the bottom half of the country.'|date=2019-07-03|url=https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/jul/03/bernie-sanders/bernie-sanders-target-saying-3-richest-have-much-w/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220126234218/https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/jul/03/bernie-sanders/bernie-sanders-target-saying-3-richest-have-much-w/|archive-date=2022-01-26|retrieved=2022-05-01}}</ref> Public support for the U.S. government is very low, with only 2% of Statesians believing the government almost always does what is right and only 19% believing it mostly does the right thing. 7% of Statesians have confidence in Congress, 23% have confidence in the presidency, and 25% have confidence in the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]].<ref>{{Web citation|author=[[Ben Norton]]|newspaper=[[Multipolarista]]|title=Polls show almost no one trusts US media, after decades of war propaganda and lies|date=2022-07-30|url=https://multipolarista.com/2022/07/30/trust-us-media-war-propaganda/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220806143950/https://multipolarista.com/2022/07/30/trust-us-media-war-propaganda/|archive-date=2022-08-06|retrieved=2022-08-07}}</ref>

The US is a ''de facto'' [[one-party state]],<ref>{{Citation|author=Mark J. Green|year=1982|title=Winning Back America|title-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oa3VExRT2s8C&q=%22Yes,+we+have+one+party+here.+But+so+does+America.+Except,+with+typical+extravagance,+they+have+two+of+them.%22&dq=%22Yes,+we+have+one+party+here.+But+so+does+America.+Except,+with+typical+extravagance,+they+have+two+of+them.%22&hl=es-419&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiI5N6FrafqAhXoHbkGHehvD1UQ6AEwAXoECAAQAg|quote='Yes, we have one party here. But so does America. Except, with typical extravagance, they have two of them!'|publisher=Bantam Books|isbn=9780553226300}}</ref> with aesthetical differences between its two main parties, the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] and the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]], but both parties follow common policies, especially abroad. The ruling capitalist oligarchy has two factions: the Democratic Party which is center-right<ref>[http://www.thebreezepaper.com/news-blog/2020/12/18/like-it-or-not-the-democratic-party-is-a-right-wing-party Like it or Not, the Democratic Party is a Right-Wing Party]</ref> and is controlled by the monopolistic managerial [[bourgeoisie]] who seeks to maintain the stability of the imperialist system by being less reactionary on inconsequential social issues, and the Republican Party, which is more reactionary and backwards when it comes to social issues<ref>[https://www.salon.com/2019/07/05/how-did-the-republican-party-become-so-conservative/ How did the Republican Party become so conservative?]</ref> and tends to pander to the [[Petty bourgeoisie|petit bourgeoisie]] in their effort to deepen the exploitation of labor.

The election system further solidifies this duopoly with its "First Past the Post" system, resulting in citizens having to choose "the lesser of two evils." The two political parties stir up public debate around their small disagreements to create a facade of democracy, but bipartisan agreement reigns on questions of foreign policy (imperialism, war, attacking socialist countries) as well as domestic policies such as prioritizing funding for police repression over social programs such as free housing, higher education, healthcare, etc.

Given the presence of campaign donations and lobbying (legalized corruption), the billionaires who buy off politicians to serve their will are sometimes referred to as the "Donor class".<ref name="NYT-19980719">{{Web citation|journalist=Bob Herbert|date=1998-07-19|title=The Donor Class|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/19/opinion/in-america-the-donor-class.html|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>

In his autobiographical account of taking on monopolistic corporations as president, President Theodore Roosevelt recounted:<blockquote>…we had come to the stage where for our people what was needed was a real democracy; and of all forms of tyranny the least attractive and the most vulgar is the tyranny of mere wealth, the tyranny of a plutocracy.<ref>{{Web citation|title=Roosevelt, Theodore. 1913. An Autobiography: XII. The Big Stick and the Square Deal|url=http://www.bartleby.com/55/12.html}}</ref></blockquote>Despite various anti-monopoly countermeasures (anti-trust legislation, etc.) the underlying system of capitalism and the desire to accumulate more surplus value and increase profitability continues to result in monopolistic formations within the US economy. These monopolies are more powerful than the public state apparatus, and by most approximations can be considered the same object. According to fascist dictator Mussolini, the merging of corporate power and state power is the definition of fascism.<ref>"Fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power."  --Benito Mussolini. (from Encyclopedia Italiana, Giovanni Gentile, editor)</ref>