To the Editor:
Re “It’s About Ideology, Not Oligarchy,” by Ross Douthat (column, March 23):
Ross Douthat asks the proper questions on this column: Why have Elon Musk and the opposite Silicon Valley hotshots swung arduous behind President Trump? Why are they pouring cash and vitality into the MAGA motion? And why is Mr. Trump giving them free rein? However Mr. Douthat offers the improper reply. It’s not credible to suppose, as he suggests, that Mr. Musk has all of the sudden dedicated his life to reducing the deficit or shrinking the federal government.
We all know fairly nicely what Mr. Musk and his tech-bro buddies need: to translate their great wealth into energy, and use that energy to remake america right into a automobile for the infinite development of expertise and, not by the way, of their very own wealth and glory. There’s ideology right here, an Ayn Randian glorification of the noble creators. It’s an ideology that quantities to oligarchy.
Mr. Trump is seen because the automobile for this transformation. His pursuits and people of the tech elite overlap, for now. Each wish to fatally weaken the federal government and depart it open to a takeover. Mr. Trump sees himself as the brand new proprietor, whereas Mr. Musk and others need it run by the enlightened few. They are going to conflict, however whoever wins, the American folks would be the losers.
Adam Wasserman
Santa Fe, N.M.
To the Editor:
Ross Douthat ought to take his cue on oligarchy from nations the place it thrives. The central attribute of those governments is rule of (a couple of) males fairly than rule of legislation. The focus of political and financial energy is often maintained not by a coherent ideology or by insurance policies that explicitly favor the superrich, however by id politics that divide folks into “us” and “them.”
In components of Japanese Europe, oligarchs depend on a combination of jingoism and ethnic nationalism fueled by exterior grievances and anti-immigrant and anti-L.G.B.T.Q. sentiment. These narratives justify the facility of the oligarchs and keep the system.
Throughout the board, the rule of legislation unravels as a result of it constrains the facility of the oligarchs. Is America headed in that path?
Iavor Rangelov
London
The author is a analysis fellow on the London College of Economics.
To the Editor:
Ross Douthat claims that President Trump’s insurance policies are guided by ideology, not oligarchy. However he fails to see that Mr. Trump’s insurance policies have an financial element — authoritarian kleptocracy. American oligarchs favor the rule of legislation, whereas kleptocrats need little oversight and weakened authorized establishments to allow them to steal the nation’s property.
Oligarchs typically favor financial development and put money into development. Kleptocrats take what they’ve stolen from the nation and make investments it in actual property or luxurious items, leading to financial decline. So, it’s not ideology versus oligarchy. It’s ideology mixed with the promotion of kleptocracy.
Peter S. Wenz
Springfield, Sick.
The Cruelties of Money Bail
To the Editor:
Re “Lost in Jail Without Charges, Lawyers or Hope” (entrance web page, March 26):
Fernando Padron — who was jailed pretrial for months on a misdemeanor, denied a lawyer and coerced into an unfair plea deal — has a tragic story, but it surely’s no anomaly. His expertise is a symptom of a disaster that touches each nook of the nation, whereby the archaic, failed coverage of cash bail punishes poverty and traps harmless folks behind bars just because they’ll’t afford to pay for his or her freedom.
Most states don’t assure authorized counsel at a primary listening to, as Mr. Padron skilled. With out a lawyer, individuals are extra prone to have unaffordable money bail set towards them and compelled to decide on between extended pretrial detention or pleading responsible, no matter their innocence.
Proper now, greater than 70 % of individuals sitting in our jails are there just because they’ll’t afford money bail. That’s almost 500,000 folks ripped from their households and their livelihoods, all whereas legally harmless.
Our nation’s jails are overcrowded, costly and destabilizing. Our sources needs to be targeted on detaining those that pose an actual menace — not those that merely lack cash.
It’s time to finish the criminalization of poverty. Freedom needs to be free. It’s widespread sense, and it’s smart policy.
Devin McMahon
Los Angeles
The author is the supervisor of communications on the Bail Mission.
