{"id":8467,"date":"2026-03-17T12:07:54","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T16:07:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=8467"},"modified":"2026-03-17T16:01:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T20:01:37","slug":"empowering-the-billionaire-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/empowering-the-billionaire-class\/","title":{"rendered":"Empowering the Billionaire Class"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>First of a quick apology.&nbsp;&nbsp;I had surgery last week (nothing critical, just old-man stuff) and it has slowed down my \u201cessaying\u201d.&nbsp;&nbsp;I\u2019m recovering (hopefully ready for a track meet by mid-April).&nbsp;&nbsp;And today, I\u2019m sitting at the kitchen table, with a blank \u201csheet\u201d and a flashing cursor.&nbsp;&nbsp;So with all of that, let\u2019s talk about power.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Lost&nbsp;&nbsp;Ideals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the saddest parts of our \u201cnew era\u201d of MAGA politics has been watching the veteran politicians, the women and men approaching my age.&nbsp;&nbsp;I stood at the proverbial crossroads with them in the early 1980\u2019s: go into politics and elective office, or not.&nbsp;&nbsp;We were young operatives on both sides of the aisle.&nbsp;&nbsp;Some made the choice to enter the \u201cfray\u201d. For all of the years since, while I might completely disagree with some of&nbsp;&nbsp;their ideologies, I\u2019ve respected that decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here&#8217;s a bad joke:&nbsp;&nbsp;\u201cHow can you tell a Republican legislator?&nbsp;&nbsp;What they say to their friends is the opposite to what they say in public, or how they vote on the floor.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;Very few have stood up to the excesses of Trumpism, and fewer still remain in office after doing so.&nbsp;&nbsp;At that crossroads back in the 80\u2019s, I know they had dreams of really making America better.&nbsp;&nbsp;Now their silence risks the loss of our  Democratic Republic. That tells what\u2019s in their heart.&nbsp;&nbsp;They want employment, electoral victories, the power and prestige that office brings.&nbsp;&nbsp;They are creatures of the material now, not the past we all dreamed of in political science classes of the 1970\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Profiles in Courage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are few \u201cprofiles in courage\u201d left on the Republican side of the United States Congress.&nbsp;&nbsp;And many of those nearing my age are getting out, fully retiring from public life.&nbsp;&nbsp;Sure, I don\u2019t blame anyone for retiring when they can. But I bet if they felt that they could make a difference, many would stay.&nbsp;&nbsp;Ten Senators (five from each party), and fifty-six Congressmen (twenty-one Democrats, thirty-five Republicans) are leaving their seats.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As former Republican Congressman&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/adamkinzinger.substack.com\/p\/why-retiring-members-of-congress\">Adam Kinsinger <\/a>pointed out&nbsp;in an essay, don\u2019t expect any of the Republicans to become \u201clame duck &#8211; profiles in courage\u201d.&nbsp;&nbsp;They will silently continue to support the MAGA movement, to protect their future retirement plans.&nbsp;&nbsp;As retired Republican Senator Lamar Alexander responded when asked why he didn\u2019t vote to impeach Trump after the insurrection; \u201cWho would I eat lunch with?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I know a lot about real politics.&nbsp;&nbsp;I hoped that the idealism that took my peers into politics (and myself into the classroom) could survive the Trump MAGA political base.&nbsp;&nbsp;It didn\u2019t for many of them (Adam Kinsinger, Liz Cheney, and even Tom Massie are the exceptions, and are decades younger than me).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">It\u2019s About Money<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If money is power, then the billionaire class in American society ought to be pretty strong.&nbsp;&nbsp;There are almost one thousand billionaires in the US.&nbsp;&nbsp;And many of them have aligned themselves with Donald Trump, himself now (thanks to feeding at the US trough) a member of the club (201<sup>st<\/sup>&nbsp;wealthiest man in America \u2013<a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/forbes-400\/\">&nbsp;Forbes<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But I think there\u2019s a slim ideological difference between Trump, the eternal \u201cgrifter\u201d as President, and the rest of the&nbsp;&nbsp;billionaire class, represented by Vice President, JD Vance.&nbsp;&nbsp;Trump is trying to stay rich, and make sure his family stays rich as well.&nbsp;&nbsp;Jared Kushner just this week is polling our allies in the Middle East, the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia.  He&#8217;s trying to raise another five billion dollars for his own personal investment business (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/13\/business\/jared-kushner-affinity-mideast-funds.html\">NYT<\/a>).&nbsp;&nbsp;Hard to say no to the US negotiator, when as the old saying goes:&nbsp;&nbsp;\u201cTeheran in flames, bombs on the way, film at eleven!!\u201d.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump really doesn\u2019t seem to care about democracy, or the US Constitution, or his responsibility to the nation.&nbsp;&nbsp;All of those seem to be a \u201cmeans to an end\u201d for him.&nbsp;&nbsp;That \u201cmeans\u201d serves both his purpose of gathering more funds, and his ultimate goal (and the real reason he ran for President in 2024).&nbsp;&nbsp;He wants a \u201cget out of jail, free\u201d card for life, and the Presidency is the only way to get one.&nbsp;&nbsp;I guess you could say this is all Jack Smith\u2019s fault (not really).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Vice President from Ohio<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While Trump\u2019s motivations seem pretty clear, the question to ask is what\u2019s the long term goal for the billionaire class that surrounds him.&nbsp;&nbsp;Surely they want to protect their fortunes from any government actions (see Senator Elizabeth Warren\u2019s plan the<a href=\"https:\/\/elizabethwarren.com\/plans\/ultra-millionaire-tax\">&nbsp;Ultra-Millionaire Tax<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But JD Vance represents a different attitude toward our American Democracy.&nbsp;&nbsp;Vance is well known for the origin story he authored,<em>&nbsp;Hillbilly Elegy<\/em>.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;He is a \u201chillbilly\u201d (from Middletown, Ohio) who made good.&nbsp;&nbsp;He made his millions (estimated worth &#8211; twelve million) in part from book sales and movie rights, and in part, by his service to billionaire Peter Thiel (Number 40 wealthiest American &#8211;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/forbes-400\/\">Forbes<\/a>).&nbsp;&nbsp;Thiel made his fortune at PayPal.  And is now leading Palantir, a company that develops data \u201cintegration\u201d processes and whose main client is the US Government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In fact they also want the government to \u201cserve\u201d their needs.&nbsp;&nbsp;Their wealth buys them a louder voice than others. And they are using that voice (protected by the Supreme Court ruling in the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.brennancenter.org\/our-work\/research-reports\/citizens-united-explained\">Citizen\u2019s United&nbsp;case<\/a>, 2010) to alter American government.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Republican politicians of the past at least paid lip-service to the commitment of the American government to the \u201ccommon man\u201d.&nbsp;&nbsp;Even Herbert Hoover campaigned on \u201cA chicken in every pot, a car in every garage\u201d.&nbsp;&nbsp;These billionaire Republicans are making sure that America is a \u201csafe place\u201d for their own wealth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Hillbillies&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Vance represents a change in America.&nbsp;&nbsp;He went from \u201chillbilly\u201d to millionaire, telling his story.&nbsp;&nbsp;But his concern isn\u2019t really about the \u201chillbillies\u201d he left behind in Middletown.&nbsp;&nbsp;He wants to make sure that that his new billionaire friends gain and maintain their fortunes. Here\u2019s two quick examples.&nbsp;&nbsp;First, the Big, Beautiful Bill\u2019s primary impact was to cut taxes on the rich, and to cut benefits to the poor (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanprogress.org\/article\/7-ways-the-big-beautiful-bill-cuts-taxes-for-the-rich\/\">American Center for Progress<\/a>).&nbsp;&nbsp;It\u2019s the only major legislative accomplishment of this Republican controlled Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Second, the \u201cSafe Act\u201d now in Congress has the net effect of suppressing the vote.&nbsp;&nbsp;Without a doubt, fewer legal voters will be able to vote if this law manages to get through Congress.&nbsp;&nbsp;Those fewer voters inevitably will be poorer, and more likely to vote Democratic.&nbsp;&nbsp;And that gives the billionaire class even more power.&nbsp;&nbsp;Not only can they use their money to try to \u201cbuy elections\u201d, but they could then chose the electorate who are allowed to vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">JD may not be all-in on the war in Iran, but he definitely is all-in on fewer people voting.&nbsp;&nbsp;That\u2019s particularly if they are poor, minority, or people of color.&nbsp;&nbsp;Trump\u2019s a thief, but his thieving will be done in three years.&nbsp;&nbsp;But the billionaire class is here to stay.&nbsp;&nbsp;And that\u2019s the real long-term threat to American Democracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>First of a quick apology.&nbsp;&nbsp;I had surgery last week (nothing critical, just old-man stuff) and it has slowed down my \u201cessaying\u201d.&nbsp;&nbsp;I\u2019m recovering (hopefully ready for a track meet by mid-April).&nbsp;&nbsp;And today, I\u2019m sitting at the kitchen table, with a blank \u201csheet\u201d and a flashing cursor.&nbsp;&nbsp;So with all of that, let\u2019s talk about power. Lost&nbsp;&nbsp;Ideals One &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/empowering-the-billionaire-class\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Empowering the Billionaire Class&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Empowering the Billionaire Class : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/empowering-the-billionaire-class\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Empowering the Billionaire Class : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"First of a quick apology.&nbsp;&nbsp;I had surgery last week (nothing critical, just old-man stuff) and it has slowed down my \u201cessaying\u201d.&nbsp;&nbsp;I\u2019m recovering (hopefully ready for a track meet by mid-April).&nbsp;&nbsp;And today, I\u2019m sitting at the kitchen table, with a blank \u201csheet\u201d and a flashing cursor.&nbsp;&nbsp;So with all of that, let\u2019s talk about power. 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Lost&nbsp;&nbsp;Ideals One &hellip; Continue reading \"Empowering the Billionaire Class\"","og_url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/empowering-the-billionaire-class\/","og_site_name":"Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","article_publisher":"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/","article_author":"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/","article_published_time":"2026-03-17T16:07:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-03-17T20:01:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":640,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Marty Dahlman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@martydahlman","twitter_site":"@martydahlman","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Marty Dahlman","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/empowering-the-billionaire-class\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/empowering-the-billionaire-class\/"},"author":{"name":"Marty Dahlman","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"headline":"Empowering the Billionaire Class","datePublished":"2026-03-17T16:07:54+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-17T20:01:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/empowering-the-billionaire-class\/"},"wordCount":1313,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/empowering-the-billionaire-class\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/empowering-the-billionaire-class\/","url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/empowering-the-billionaire-class\/","name":"Empowering the Billionaire Class : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-03-17T16:07:54+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-17T20:01:37+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/empowering-the-billionaire-class\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/empowering-the-billionaire-class\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/empowering-the-billionaire-class\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Empowering the Billionaire Class"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/","name":"Trump World - Essays on Politics and the Trump Administration","description":"Essays on Politics and Life in Our America","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c","name":"Marty Dahlman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","width":480,"height":640,"caption":"Marty Dahlman"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1"},"description":"I'm Marty Dahlman. After forty years of teaching and coaching track and cross country, I've finally retired!!! 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