My Take | American democracy is a disguised oligarchy
From ‘the revolving door’ of high office and the C-suite to the symbiosis of lobbyists and politicians, elite interests define government policies
In contemporary America, the phenomenon of “the revolving door” is well recognised. It refers to the interchangeability of high government officials and top corporate executives.
Here are some latest examples. Newly retired US Army general and former National Security Agency (NSA) director Paul Nakasone has joined the board of directors of OpenAI, arguably the hottest artificial intelligence (AI) developer of the moment. It comes at a time when the Pentagon increasingly turns to AI for all kinds of military usage.
Nakasone has advocated closer relations between Japan and the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing nations, especially in cybersecurity and warfare.
Mike Gallagher, the ultra-anti-China hawk who previously chaired the House of Representatives’ Select Committee on China, has been hired as head of defence for Palantir, a major military contractor with close ties to Israel.
Meanwhile, according to OpenSecrets, an NGO, there are currently 870 Washington lobbyists working for the defence sector alone, of whom 558 – or 64 per cent – have passed through the “revolving door”.
There is a similar army of lobbyists for virtually every major industrial sector, as well as subsectors. For example, within defence, there are specialist lobbyists advocating a new generation of intercontinental missiles carrying nuclear warheads. They give the phrase “merchants of death” a whole new meaning when you are talking about the potential extinction of the human race.
