Divest from Corporate Oligarchs

As outlined in this introductory post, the following three strategies reflect my personal approach for engaging in pro-democracy activities amidst the current American turmoil:

1. Divest from corporate oligarchs (and support local and small business alternatives)
2. Get to know my neighbors and community (to support democracy through civic ties)
3. Build community resilience (with a focus on climate adaptation, disaster preparedness, and emergency response readiness)

This post offers some quick thoughts on #1: Why I want to divest from corporate oligarchs and what that means. 

The U.S. has been moving toward oligarchy over the last many decades

Biden warned in his outgoing speech, on January 15th, that “today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that really threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedom.”

But some would argue that oligarchy isn’t “taking shape” it’s pretty much already here, and the buying habits of everyday Americans, myself included, have supported its ascendency. 

First, what is an oligarchy? (And, similarly, what is a plutocracy?)

Oligarchy: 

• “Government by the few; a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes” (Merriam Webster)
• “These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, religious, political, or military control” (Wikipedia)

Plutocracy: 

• “Government by the wealthy; a controlling class of the wealthy” (Merriam Webster) 
• “A society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income…Throughout history, political thinkers and philosophers have condemned plutocrats for ignoring their social responsibilities, using their power to serve their own purposes and thereby increasing poverty and nurturing class conflict and corrupting societies with greed and hedonism.” (Wikipedia)

Whether the United States is or is not an oligarchy is not the debate I mean to wage with this post. However, it’s worth noting some key points from studies and articles that have explored precisely that:

A 2014 study on American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens, published by Cambridge University Press, concluded that:

• “Economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence.” 
• A BBC opinion piece summarized the study's analysis saying “the wealthy few move policy, while the average American has little power.” It summarized that “Americans do enjoy many features central to democratic governance, such as regular elections [and] freedom of speech," however, "if policymaking is dominated by powerful business organizations and a small number of affluent Americans, then America's claims to being a democratic society are seriously threatened.”

Meanwhile, a January 2025 piece from Harvard Kennedy School referencing the same 2014 study, Oligarchy in the open: What happens now as the U.S. is forced to confront its plutocracy problem, explores how Trump’s “brazen embrace of billionaire ruling partners could be an inflection point in America’s long slide toward rule by the wealthiest.” The authors highlight from the study that: 

• “Political outcomes overwhelmingly favored very wealthy people, corporations, and business groups. The influence of ordinary citizens, meanwhile, was at a ‘non-significant, near-zero level.’ America, they concluded, was not a democracy at all, but a functional oligarchy.”

Similarly, The Nation published a piece on the American oligarchy in 2022 that stated:

• “Working-class Americans held a greater share of the nation’s wealth at the end of Ronald Reagan’s 'trickle-down economics' presidency in the late 1980s than they do today.”
• Meanwhile, at the time of publishing, the article also quoted: “As the U.S. crosses the grim milestone of 1 million deaths from Covid-19, U.S. billionaires have seen their combined wealth rise over $1.7 trillion, a gain of over 58% during the pandemic.”

And who sat behind Trump at his inauguration?

• “The world’s second-richest man, Jeff Bezos ($245 billion), joined the world’s third-richest man, Mark Zuckerberg ($217 billion), behind Trump’s right shoulder. They sat near Apple CEO Tim Cook ($2.2 billion), Google CEO Sundar Pichai (about $1 billion), and Google’s co-founder Sergey Brin, the world’s seventh-richest man ($163 billion). TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, whose company rang in the Trump presidency a full day early, attended church with the Trumps and his fellow tech titans on Monday morning. Isaac Perlmutter, the billionaire former chairman of Marvel, sat near Musk.” (Mother Jones)

So what does this mean for me?

As an American, I get to vote in regular local, state, and federal elections. But as an engaged citizen, I also get to vote every day with my wallet. And that is the most tangible way I see for how I might divest from corporate oligarchs.

Day-long boycotts have already been picking up in the U.S. in recent weeks, as consumers leverage their wallets to express dissatisfaction with the corporate interests linked to Trump’s administration and the rolling-back of DEI initiatives and similar practices as companies “fall in line” with Trump’s agenda. But do economic boycotts work? Well, the Rosa Parks-inspired Montgomery bus boycott in 1956 ultimately resulted in the Supreme Court ruling that segregation on any form of transport was illegal. And a 2010 Greenpeace-led boycott of Nestlé Corporation, for its use of palm oil sourced from deforested areas, prompted the company to commit to sourcing palm oil sustainably. 

But even beyond boycotting to influence corporations to behave differently, there’s an opportunity in this current moment to shift spending from massive corporations back into smaller, independently run businesses that keep power in the hands of communities.