To the editor:
The Princeton Study is a study by Martin Gilens, professor at Princeton University, and Benjamin I. Page, a Northwestern university professor.
The study basically says …
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To the editor:
The Princeton Study is a study by Martin Gilens, professor at Princeton University, and Benjamin I. Page, a Northwestern university professor.
The study basically says “When a majority of citizens disagrees with the economic elite and/or with organized interests, they gradually lose. Moreover, because of the strong status quo bias built into the U.S. political system, even when fairly large majorities of Americans favor policy change, they generally do not get it.”
They feel that the American political system has changed from a democracy to an oligarchy in a system where the elites have the most power.
They conclude that “rich or well connected individuals on the political scene now steer the direction of the country, regardless of or even against the will of the majority of voters.”
In a smaller way, this is what has happened here in Barrington.
The town government seems to understand that many homeowners cannot carry the constantly rising tax bill for their land and their property as well as various other taxes. So, for the past four to five years the town has raised the assessed value of these properties in what seems to be an effort to raise (in an under the table way) money for the town's spending issues without calling it further taxation.
In essence, some property owners have seen their property evaluations raised by $100,000 or more in four years. It looks like a way to drive people out of town. The Princeton Study is a study of a nation right down to its many towns and cities turning into an oligarchy.
Barbara Flanders
Barrington