Deleted Tweets From Nate McMurray, D-N.Y.

As the corporate and income tax structure changed, you paid more, and more wealth went to fewer and fewer people. Under the guise of loosening animal spirits and the free market, we allowed Wallstreet crooks to take riskier and riskier bets with working people’s money.

Then came the 1980s. Reagan. Back to the Future. Neon orange tights. And finial deregulation and tax cuts for the rich As the corporate and income tax structure changed, you paid more, and more wealth went to fewer and fewer people.

Our industrial might grew as well. Sure, the evolving work of perfecting America was far from complete, with failures on both civil rights and climate. But oligarchy was not the retreat. The American dream was becoming a reality.

For fifty years you saw progress in the standard of living for almost every American. Wages went up. Infrastructure filled our great nation. More people went to college. Our universities became the envy of the world.

The US instituted an income tax, to share the wealth created by new technologies and efficiency. Democratic majorities in the State and Federal legislatures curtailed the power of the oligarchs further, eventually giving rise to the New Deal. And the middle class grew.

World War 1, The Great Depression, and laws put in place to protect workers, and give regular citizens protection and opportunity in the free market helped erode the power of the second wave of oligarchs.

There was no middle class, Our cities were full of death and blight. Our rural areas, depleted of vitality and abused. Read “The Grapes of Wrath.” Read “The Jungle.”

The “Robber Barrons” (called “robber barons” because they stole from the people like common criminals) suppressed wages and cruelly treated their employees as disposable, less than human.

The industrial revolution created dynamic economic output. But the promises of technology and innovation never served anyone but the most elite. The benefits of that output did not trickle down, it concentrated and stagnated at the top.

But America became more and more of a Democracy as our nation took shape. It was a work in progress, sadly though blood shed, failure, and occasional triumph. But progress continued until the second wave of Oligarchs: Rockefeller, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, etc. The “Robber Barons.”

By the way, women were widely considered property at the time too. Talk about one heck of. A twisted oligarchy.

Benjamin Franklin? Thomas Jefferson? Geniuses. I won’t deny it. But genius who had the luxury, and the wealth, to write beautiful prose with feather quills while slaves worked their land.

But this is not the first time America faced the threat of oligarchy. Let’s be frank, the Founding Fathers were oligarchs. Most Americans were laborers, indentured servants doing back breaking worker, or slaves not even recognized by our country.

The concentration of power creates a vicious circle where the elite spend money to shape the free market and our laws to give them more and more wealth. That wealth gives them more and more power. In other words, power is zero sum game. As they take more, you and I have less.

Why is this a problem? Doesn’t it trickle down? Isn't it all relative? No. Your life is not getting better (health expectancy is actually going down in America) its getting worse. Americans are less happy than ever, and your power to change anything is fading fast.

I could go on, and on. The raw numbers are startling. The reality is that in America today the gap between the “haves” and “have nots” is greater than ever—indeed, greater than than anywhere on earth.

—From 1978 to 2018, CEO compensation grew by 1,007.5%, far outstripping S&P stock market growth (706.7%) and the wage growth of very high earners (339.2%). In contrast, wages for the typical worker grew by just 11.9%.

—More than one-quarter of all disclosed political contributions in 2012 came from just 30,000 people, again that percentage may be higher because many donations are unreported.

—It’s not just them. Michael Bloomberg spent about $23m on Democrats in 2016, and spent many billions more in 2018. All of these numbers are probably too low because of reporting loopholes.

—The Koch brothers invested about $250m in the 2016 election. They reportedly spent more than $400m in 2018. They can do this becuase under the guise of “free speech” they have been working to undermine campaign finance laws for decades.

As the corporate and income tax structure changed, you paid more, and more wealth went to fewer and fewer people. Under the guise of loosening animal spirits and the free market, we allowed Wallstreet crooks to take riskier and riskier bets with working people’s money.

Then came the 1980s. Reagan. Back to the Future. Neon orange tights. And finial deregulation and tax cuts for the rich As the corporate and income tax structure changed, you paid more, and more wealth went to fewer and fewer people.

Our industrial might grew as well. Sure, the evolving work of perfecting America was far from complete, with failures on both civil rights and climate. But oligarchy was not the retreat. The American dream was becoming a reality.

For fifty years you saw progress in the standard of living for almost every American. Wages went up. Infrastructure filled our great nation. More people went to college. Our universities became the envy of the world.

The US instituted an income tax, to share the wealth created by new technologies and efficiency. Democratic majorities in the State and Federal legislatures curtailed the power of the oligarchs further, eventually giving rise to the New Deal. And the middle class grew.

World War 1, The Great Depression, and laws put in place to protect workers, and give regular citizens protection and opportunity in the free market helped erode the power of the second wave of oligarchs.

There was no middle class, Our cities were full of death and blight. Our rural areas, depleted of vitality and abused. Read “The Grapes of Wrath.” Read “The Jungle.”

The “Robber Barrons” (called “robber barons” because they stole from the people like common criminals) suppressed wages and cruelly treated their employees as disposable, less than human.

The industrial revolution created dynamic economic output. But the promises of technology and innovation never served anyone but the most elite. The benefits of that output did not trickle down, it concentrated and stagnated at the top.

But America became more and more of a Democracy as our nation took shape. It was a work in progress, sadly though blood shed, failure, and occasional triumph. But progress continued until the second wave of Oligarchs: Rockefeller, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, etc. The “Robber Barons.”

By the way, women were widely considered property at the time too. Talk about one heck of. A twisted oligarchy.

Benjamin Franklin? Thomas Jefferson? Geniuses. I won’t deny it. But genius who had the luxury, and the wealth, to write beautiful prose with feather quills while slaves worked their land.

But this is not the first time America faced the threat of oligarchy. Let’s be frank, the Founding Fathers were oligarchs. Most Americans were laborers, indentured servants doing back breaking worker, or slaves not even recognized by our country.

The concentration of power creates a vicious circle where the elite spend money to shape the free market and our laws to give them more and more wealth. That wealth gives them more and more power. In other words, power is zero sum game. As they take more, you and I have less.

Why is this a problem? Doesn’t it trickle down? Isn't it all relative? No. Your life is not getting better (health expectancy is actually going down in America) its getting worse. Americans are less happy than ever, and your power to change anything is fading fast.

I could go on, and on. The raw numbers are startling. The reality is that in America today the gap between the “haves” and “have nots” is greater than ever—indeed, greater than than anywhere on earth.

—From 1978 to 2018, CEO compensation grew by 1,007.5%, far outstripping S&P stock market growth (706.7%) and the wage growth of very high earners (339.2%). In contrast, wages for the typical worker grew by just 11.9%.

—More than one-quarter of all disclosed political contributions in 2012 came from just 30,000 people, again that percentage may be higher because many donations are unreported.

—It’s not just them. Michael Bloomberg spent about $23m on Democrats in 2016, and spent many billions more in 2018. All of these numbers are probably too low because of reporting loopholes.

—The Koch brothers invested about $250m in the 2016 election. They reportedly spent more than $400m in 2018. They can do this becuase under the guise of “free speech” they have been working to undermine campaign finance laws for decades.