US policy dominated by the elite - new study

Well at least we have a study now that proves what everyone has been saying; that in particular the US is ruled by the elite and not the majority of it's own citizens. 

We see the same thing happening here in Australia, increasingly with corporate interests being put ahead of the wishes of the population (fracking anyone?). We also have the NSW ICAC that so far is now at 11 ministers who've bitten the dust over the corruption inquiry into property investments and funds being funneled from elsewhere into party coffers. We see vulnerable Housing tenants at Millers Point in Sydney being booted out, the first property selling recently for $2.5 million. We see the Abbott gov attacking Medicare and welfare which the poor and vulnerable rely on for survival, whilst Gina and Palmer get rid of the mining tax. On and on, corporate interests are taking the front seat. That can only be bad for our democracy.

After sifting through nearly 1,800 US policies enacted in that period and comparing them to the expressed preferences of average Americans (50th percentile of income), affluent Americans (90th percentile) and large special interests groups, researchers concluded that the United States is dominated by its economic elite.

The peer-reviewed study, which will be taught at these universities in September, says: "The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organised groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence."

Researchers concluded that US government policies rarely align with the the preferences of the majority of Americans, but do favour special interests and lobbying organisations: "When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites and/or with organised interests, they generally lose. Moreover, because of the strong status quo bias built into the US political system, even when fairly large majorities of Americans favour policy change, they generally do not get it." more

And this from the report itself: 

Despite the seemingly strong empirical support in previous studies for theories of majoritarian democracy, our analyses suggest that majorities of the American public actually have little influence over the policies our government adopts. Americans do enjoy many features central to democratic governance, such as regular elections, freedom of speech and association, and a widespread (if still contested) franchise. But we believe that if policymaking is dominated by powerful business organizations and a small number of affluent Americans, then America’s claims to being a democratic society are seriously threatened. PDF