If you’ve been on social media in recent weeks, you may have seen the word “oligarchy” being thrown around. It is a term you either immediately recognize or one that you know you learned in high school and have since forgotten, but now more than ever, it is essential to familiarize ourselves with it.
The word originates from ancient Greek and roughly translates to “rule by few” — it refers to a political system in which a small and exclusive group of people often defined by a specific shared attribute such as wealth, religion or race govern everyone else. An oligarchy is not to be confused with an aristocracy, another political system in which a select few individuals have power. The critical distinction between the two, according to Aristotle, is that the small group of powerful rulers in an aristocratic society are just and fit to lead while, in an oligarchical society, they are corrupt and oppressive. This structure is incredibly harmful because it gives dangerous figures sole power over the masses, which in turn leads to submission, oppression, poverty and inevitably dictatorship — think Napoleon’s France, apartheid-ridden South Africa, as well as modern-day Iran and Russia.
The discourse on America heading in the direction of an oligarchy came to a head when former President Joe Biden said in his farewell address, “Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that really threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedom.” Biden continued to use the term “tech-industrial complex” when discussing the threat of oligarchy, not so discreetly hinting that he was talking about the alliance between President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and potentially other billionaire tech giants. At Trump’s inauguration, the billionaires stood behind the president proudly, signaling to us normal folk that they are about to have more power than ever before.
It is no secret that Musk played an alarmingly active role in Trump’s presidential campaign, causing some to wonder whether it was really Trump or Musk running for executive office. Last year, Musk gave an estimated $277 million to super PACs, ensuring he would have a place in the Trump administration, and he was granted just that as he was placed in charge of a new advisory working group called the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, a reference to a popular 2013 meme. As Americans, we must collectively work toward developing a strong class consciousness regardless of party affiliation if we want to protect our democracy.
When news of the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson broke in December, it seemed as if, for a brief moment, we were all united in the fight against our deeply flawed capitalist system and thinking critically about the ethics of billionaires. Many Americans were quick to condemn the violence while also starting a dialogue regarding our for-profit health care system. The response to the shooting and the subsequent martyr-esque public support of alleged gunman Luigi Mangione was shocking to politicians and the news media, revealing to both powerful Democrats and Republicans alike that they are deeply out of touch with the concerns of the average American. The rise in public class consciousness threatens right-wing extremists as it undermines their ability to distract the public with manufactured outrage over trivial issues, like the “woke mind virus” and pronouns, while also calling “progressive” politicians to action.
The ultra-wealthy were stunned to realize that the public could condemn both outright murder and a system that denies lifesaving care for profit as equally wrong. People realized it was hypocritical of the government to charge someone who allegedly killed one person as a terrorist, a threat to the country’s coherency, while allowing companies to make billions off of refusing treatment, allowing masses of civilians to die.
While tech billionaires like to flaunt their influence in government, health care CEOs and leaders are more secretive to the public eye as they may understand that their job is essentially to harm and swindle money out of the average American. The shooting of Thompson sent health care companies into a panic. For instance, in the wake of the shooting, UnitedHealthcare and other companies removed the photos and information of top executives from their websites. Likewise, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield immediately reversed their wildly unethical decision to place limits on anesthesia coverage, meaning if a patient was under anesthesia for longer than Anthem’s time limit, they would refuse to cover the procedure. It seemed change was finally on the way, but the public’s interest is constantly changing, and with Trump’s election, the fight for free health care is once again on the back burner.
I personally am concerned, to say the least, and scared, to say the most, when it comes to the topic of billionaires. While those who made their money in health care are more outwardly — and proximally — dangerous, the gaggle of wannabe oligarchs Trump has assembled is also making me uneasy. It seems as if I can not go a day without hearing something concerning a tech billionaire, from the debate over if Musk did a Nazi salute to rumors that Zuckerberg is looking to make TikTok a part of Meta after Trump prevented its ban that he once advocated for. These tech giants have been a part of our society for a decent amount of time but never before have they been the center of it, and their power will only grow. We have allowed these people who couldn’t care less about us to influence our everyday lives — the politicians we elect, the apps we can use and what we can say on those apps. But most importantly, their constant desire to use innovation as a power grab rather than a way to better the world is threatening our well-being.
For example, although Elon Musk uses his electric vehicles to create the image that he is sustainable, his company SpaceX is currently “legally” threatening the environment. Musk is asking federal authorities for permission to test a new rocket prototype that will rain down debris in Hawaii, most notably in and around the World Heritage site Papahanaumokuakea, a place both important to Native Hawaiians and home to a variety of flora and fauna such as marine life and sea birds. If you look up Papahanaumokuakea you will see gorgeous blue-green water, sandy atolls, as well as families of albatrosses, seals and sea turtles, but this scene may soon become a billionaire’s debris dumping ground.
The response to billionaires buying their way into government is often met with indifference or even blind support from those who do not understand the dangers of oligarchy. At the end of the day, we have a democratic system in which we vote to elect our leaders, not one in which anyone with enough money can essentially purchase a ticket into government, and we must keep it this way regardless of political party. Whereas the left often struggles to connect with what truly matters to the average citizen, the right’s fatal flaw lies in their unwillingness — and outright refusal — to hold figures like Trump accountable when they do something not in the best interest of the people. No one Democrat, Republican, Independent or Apolitical should want out-of-touch billionaires to weasel their way into our government, and now we must come together across party lines to tell our president that this is not what we want.
Jordan Ori is a junior majoring in English and is a Pipe Dream Opinions intern.
Views expressed in the opinions pages represent the opinions of the columnists. The only piece that represents the view of the Pipe Dream Editorial Board is the staff editorial.