It is undoubtedly the Fourth branch of government.
The lobbyists, the special interests. the large Corporations and the extremely wealthy.
The special interests have bought the politicians and thence the government; lock, stock and barrel with campaign contributions and other bribes.
As with other autocratic regimes of times past and despots today, the system is kept in place through a combination of propaganda, special favors and coercion.
The American media might just as well be Goebbels Ministry of Propaganda.
In fact it is far more effective than either Goebbels or Stalin achieved as it is not widely accepted as the propaganda arm of the ruling elites.
American propaganda is more effective in a second powerful way too.
The politicians and the Corporations behind them, have split the population straight down the middle and got them agitated about a series of issues that do not affect Corporate profits.
These are almost exclusively social issues - Gay Rights, Abortion etc.
The propaganda has managed to split the electorate in general straight down the middle so that each Party can blame each other for America's problems, while both parties are equally to blame.
The special interests achieve their aims whichever "party" is is currently in power.
The big banks retain their special privileges and government subsidies, they largely rule through their ownership of he Federal Reserve private bank.
Policy towards large pharmaceutical companies, Monsanto and arms companies is almost indistinguishable between the two parties.
There are very small differences in the emphasis given between big oil and colleges.
As in centuries past, e.g. Rome, the vast ignorant masses are thrown a few crumbs from the table to stop them from rioting or rebelling at the blatant abuses but also to make them more dependent on the "largesse" of the government.
So as in all autocratic regimes, the rich get richer and the middle classes and the poor get poorer - which is exactly what we have seen happening in America over the last 30 years.
It's even worse than centuries past - autocrats who went too far back then got summarily executed - when was the last time you saw a CEO of a large Corporation or a guy worth $100m plus get jail time?
The coercion element is now supplied by Federal Law enforcement, e.g. the FBI breaking up Occupy demo's and the Police beating up demonstrators or the FBI intimidating whistle blowers,, but also by things like the NSA mass domestic surveillance whose primary purpose is to suppress domestic political dissent through blackmail ad intimidation.
If I go on this anti Monsanto march will I be more or less likely to get an IRS audit or be refused an Obamacare subsidy, or get raided for pot?
When this coercion fails, there is always the branding of political dissenters as "domestic terrorists" and harsh jail terms for people who displease the government, whether or not they have committed any real crimes, e.g. Aaron Schwarz, Barrett Brown.
In Foreign Policy too, the leadership of both parties are the same with the purpose of :-
Antagonizing the Middle East
Stirring up more hatred, war and conflict
Recruiting More Islamic Extremists
With the objective of :-
Justifying the astronomical sums being spent on the military - $1.2tn a year. or 8% of GDP. (For comparative purposes China only spends $100bn a year or 2% of GDP).
To make Americans feel and be less safe, in order to impose ever more draconian domestic control laws and policies.
The success of these policies can be seen in the recent attack by Islamists in Kenya, the recent attack on churches in Pakistan killing 85 Christians and the latest polls out of Africa :-
In education too, the objectives of both parties are the same (while the methods are slightly different to best fit their main constituency) :-
To dumb down education standards
To suppress any critical thinking skills
To indoctrinate into the service of the State through praising the military and Nationalism
To re-write American history to put the government and politicians in the best light
To ensure conformity
To encourage obedience to authority
College education policies are the same too:-
Encourage more people to go to college for increasingly worthless degrees they don't need in order to load up young people with tens of thousands of dollars of debt.
People who are worried about the paying the next bill, or who are working long hours to make ends meet, or are having difficulty finding a job, don't tend to think about the bigger picture and will more willingly accept the propaganda laid out for them each night on the TV news.
Elections in America are now total charades - it makes no difference as to which party gets elected to the Presidency, it makes very little difference who gets elected to Congress - just about all of them are very easily bought.
The second most powerful branch of government is now the Executive branch.
The power of Congress has largely been abrogated (almost all of them are bought anyway).
Increasingly America is being ruled by autocratic decree - otherwise known as Executive Orders and by rules, regulations and interpretations of Law made by unelected officials appointed by the President.
Almost no oversight is provided by congress.
The contortions of the politicians can also be seen in things like Obamacare.
Both Romney and Obama are strong supporters - it is primarily designed to increase the profits of large pharmaceutical companies and other big business.
Bain Capital is set to make a lot of money out of it which is why it was hardly mentioned during the election campaign.
Both Romney and Obama stated that Obamacare was not a tax before the Supreme Court ruled on it, but the Supreme Court could only rule in it's favor by saying it WAS a tax.
The politicians are now using it as a tool to distract the public, there is no chance of it being defunded by the Senate and after all - whether Obamacare is in place or not, it makes very little difference to the profits of the big banks and arms companies.
I have just seen The Shooter - a very accurate portrayal of how America is run today.
I have my own ideas of who the Senator in the movie most resembles in real life - who do you think he most resembles?
The Shooter also has strong parallels with the current conflict in Syria.
Who cares if hundreds of thousands of Syrians get killed and millions more are displaced or impoverished or injured as long as Saudi Arabia and Qatar can get their gas pipeline built.
At least that is the thinking of the Saudi Arabian regime and Saudi Arabia along with their ally Israel have bought or coerced almost all of Congress and every recent President that has been elected.
Perhaps you should watch The Shooter again with a fresh eye.
More details on how the government (both parties) rules for the special interests and completely against the best interests of America in general and completely against the best interests of over 99% of the populace.
http://ian56.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-conspiracy-of-silence-in-media.html
The growing inequality in America
Only those that are well into the top 0.1%, those earning well over $1million a year, have benefited from the last 10 years of government and Federal Reserve policies.
http://ian56.blogspot.com/2013/12/growing-inequality-only-very-few-people.html
More details on what 30 years of increasingly extremist Corporatist policies have done to America in a series of economic charts and how to fix things.
http://ian56.blogspot.com/2013/10/all-of-policies-of-federal-government.html
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