“We’re drifting toward becoming a plutocracy.” (Image by Richard Whitney.)

A sequence from former Labor Secretary Robert Reich’s excellent Ask Me Anything on Reddit:

“Question (seeker135):

In your opinion, are we in the Endgame of the Republic?

Answer (robertbreich):

No.

Question (hierocles):

In the sense that the United States political system will no longer look like it used to, yes. Obviously the country is not going to fall into anarchy. But without institutional changes, all branches of government will have to be controlled by the same party if they’re going to be at all effective. We will have to enter into a pseudo one-party state.

Answer (robertbreich):

I’m not quite as pessimistic, but I do think there have to be major institutional changes. The most important, in my view, is limiting campaign contributions. That will be hard to do in the wake of the Supreme Court’s grotesque ‘Citizen’s United’ decision, but I still think public financing of general elections can work, if the extent of the potential financing is raised. Remember, both presidential candidates used public financing in 1976, and didn’t rely on any outside financing. Seems hard to believe from where we are now.

Question (kblz):

Mr. Reich, is the United States is a functioning republic? also – what would you do, now, if you were secretary of labor? would you encourage and protect small businesses? what about healthcare?

Answer (robertbreich):

We’re drifting toward becoming a plutocracy, run by a relatively small number of extremely wealthy individuals, CEOs, and Wall Street moguls. That’s why we need to get serious about campaign finance reform, why tax reform is vital, and why the entire economy needs to be reorganized to widen the circle of prosperity — so that far more of us benefit from the gains of productivity growth. If I were back in the administration, I’d strengthen labor unions, try to create a single-payer system for healthcare, use antitrust laws to break up big concentrations of power (such as the biggest banks on Wall Street), resurrect the Glass-Steagall Act (that used to separate investment from commercial banking), and enlarge the Earned Income Tax Credit (a wage subsidy for lower-income workers).”

 • • • • • • • • • •

Oh my god, look at these two tiny communists go! They are so adorable.