Plutocracy ('07)

I sent this letter to the LATimes in July 2007 (not published):

I'm not as optimistic as Brooks. She believes the Bush era
will "seem like a bad dream, a shameful, inexplicable interlude
in American history." I fear that this new, more brazen American
plutocracy will endure.

Corporations own both the politicians and the media. The amoral
politicians care only about getting re-elected, and their cagey
advisors excite voters over trivial issues. The profit-driven media
play along.

And finally, without any sustained outrage from their leaders or
their news, the populace stays just barely too fat, dumb,
entertained and distracted to care.