Who are the Mercers?
(3 years old, but fits right in with what we are seeing - autocrats networking to destroy democracy.
" What is the Mercers' stake in right-wing politics?
The family's influence seems to have grown suddenly in the wake of the so-called Citizens United verdict in 2010, when the US Supreme Court removed nearly all limits on corporations and individuals donating to politicians.
By 2011, the Mercers started attending seminars set up by well-known billionaire conservatives Charles and David Koch, also known as the Koch brothers. The Mercers have fed millions into Koch's political organization.
In 2012, Rebekah Mercer joined the non-profit Government Accountability Institute founded by Steve Bannon. The group produced a book on corruption allegations against Bill and Hillary Clinton called "Clinton Cash" and another one on the Bush family, dubbed "Bush Bucks," despite the latter being a Republican political dynasty.
The Mercers hold a major stake in a company called Cambridge Analytica, which uses digital data to tailor election propaganda to voters. They are also major donors to the Media Research Center, which aims to neutralize "left-wing bias in the news media."
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.dw.com/en/who-are-the-mercers-the-wealthy-backers-of-breitbart/a-42100407
Which ties right in with....
"INSKEEP: When you look back in history, do you find other societies that are pushed from democracy toward authoritarianism? And how did the story turn out in some of those cases.
APPLEBAUM: Well, let's be clear, almost every democracy in history ended in authoritarianism, starting with ancient Greece and Rome. Some of the most brilliant writings on what ends democracy come from Cicero, you know, from Roman writers. When - in fact, when the American Founding Fathers wrote our founding documents and our Constitution, they had those Roman examples in their heads. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were writing to one another about Cicero all the way up until the ends of their lives.
So everybody who founded and created democratic systems has always been aware of how fragile they can be. They require something almost, you know, that goes against human nature. Namely, they require all of us to allow our political enemies to rule, you know? We are going to let them rule for a while. And then we're going to try and beat them back and take power from them through using these legal methods. And, you know, if you think about it, that's a tough ask. That doesn't mean it has to fail, but it means that it can."
https://www.npr.org/2020/07/22/894074616/anne-applebaums-latest-book-twilight-of-democracy
= new reply since forum marked as read
