[djur]

I'm really tired of this defeatist attitude. It's especially common on HN for some reason.

Think of it this way: "they" want you to be cynical about the usefulness of democratic action. A necessary precondition for oligarchic takeover of democracy is that the people decide not to make use of the tools they have available to retain control.

A formally democratic society where nobody but the rich bothers to advocate for their own needs is the ideal form of oppression.

[snowwrestler]

This is spot on. Especially when there is ample evidence that citizen action can defeat big company interests. See: the entire environmental movement. Or the entire labor movement.

[cryoshon]

Did you see the study that just came out which stated that money was far more important than "democratic" channels when looking at political outcomes?

We're cynical about the usefulness of democratic action specifically because there have been numerous elections without any major changes to our country's current death spiral.

The poor and middle classes constantly advocate for their own needs (jobs, money, healthcare) but are consistently beaten by the rich's purchased politicians.

[krapp]

Purely for the sake of devil's advocacy, I'll just point out that there's an entire other side of the political spectrum in the US which agrees completely with the rich and their moneyed interests, and which considers things like 'advocacy for the poor and middle class' and 'net neutrality' to be part of the country's death spiral into socialism. The rich and right-wing get to vote just like everyone else, and it should be no surprise that business lobbies for its own self-interest.