Some offline responses suggest that the word ‘hegemony’ may relate more to international relationships like the Imperialist Age of Great Britain at the height of its colonialism. The mariner is always willing to improve communication so the word ‘hegemony’ is replaced by the word ‘oligarchy’. As defined in the dictionary and Wikipedia, oligarchy means “governed by the few”; the second definition in the dictionary says, “a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes.
Under the definition of oligarchy, a subtopic in Wikipedia referenced the term “Crony Capitalism”, a term describing an economy in which success in business depends on close relationships between business people and government officials. It may be exhibited by favoritism in the distribution of legal permits, government grants, special tax breaks, etc.
Therefore, ‘oligarchy’ is the issue at hand. Still, all the posts previously written about this topic apply both as the subject and as the practices that confront the citizen today. Just swap the word hegemony for oligarchy.
The Agriculture Appropriations Bill was discussed recently as a sample battlefield where future failure and success are at risk. Another kind of battlefield is the appointment of judges not only at the Federal level but in State courts as well. A recent report said that there are eighty-eight vacancies in the Federal Court system. One Senator can hold up consent. Obviously, this is another battleground for the future failure or success of the United States. Judges hang around a long time; therefore, their ideology will have a long term impact. The Supreme Court is the extreme example. The mariner once mentioned term limits to assure government officials were young enough to understand the current culture. Unfortunately, Federal and Supreme Court judges are not subject to term limits.
Dealing with a top-down Federal oligarchy is too expensive and too large to introduce reform. The mariner has written in the past that State citizens have a better opportunity at the State level to begin reforming the unbalanced economic structure. The mariner suggests strongly that State citizens should participate in State and County political party activities to prevent a small number of cronies from sustaining the status quo. Attend monthly meetings. Meet your State and county representatives personally and have a conversation. Discover who the power brokers are. Use your post office, email, Tweet and Facebook accounts to communicate your opinion.
Ancient Mariner