[EL] Can Democracy Survive the Plutocrats?

[Smith, Brad]

Having already made it through the presidencies of George Washington (estimate net worth in 2016 dollars  $580 million), Thomas Jefferson ($230 million), James Madison ($110 million), Andrew Jackson ($130 million), Teddy Roosevelt ($135 million), and LBJ (over $100 million) I suspect the answer is yes.

Though Truman would give him ahem, a run for his money, the poorest president may well have been William McKinley. William McKinley... now there's a president of the common man. Some others who might have been our poorest president (or close to it): the great Andrew Johnson, the racist Woodrow Wilson, James Buchanan (sometimes known as "the man who saved the union," if memory serves, but maybe I'm mistaken there), Chester Alan Arthur, and, of course, Warren G. Harding. Franklin Pierce ($2 million) and Millard Fillmore were a bit above that group, but not by much.

We've also managed to survive political "plutocrats" such as Ted Kennedy ($180 million), Nelson Rockefeller ($1 billion), John Hancock (big handwriting guy), Robert Morris (financier of the Revolution), and a whole lot more.

Yeah, I think we'll muddle through.


Bradley A. Smith

Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault

   Professor of Law

Capital University Law School

303 E. Broad St.

Columbus, OH 43215

614.236.6317

http://law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.aspx

________________________________
From: Law-election [law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] on behalf of Justin Levitt [levittj at lls.edu]
Sent: Sunday, October 08, 2017 4:17 PM
To: law-election at UCI.EDU
Subject: [EL] ELB News & Commentary 10/8/17

[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D95334&title=%E2%80%9CThe%20Impact%20of%20Close%20Races%20on%20Electoral%20College%20and%20Popular%20Vote%20Conflicts%20in%20US%20Presidential%20Elections%E2%80%9D>
Posted in electoral college<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http://electionlawblog.org/%3fcat%3d44&c=E,1,_UmaQSTY3-RXYdzR1AzFf-PIXE95sIpoVYabI8bn3ABNw_ltAkshf94SvENXei4sou7Atw5T7kr0xuyJF1CRZmw2ZBR5zR0-2Bx-4pHamBQ8Q2mE&typo=1>
“American plutocrats are running for political office across the country. Will democracy survive?”<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http://electionlawblog.org/%3fp%3d95332&c=E,1,9Z1lDzZfDRpdiztFP7HxJyxHS5KKrcs0JnhicUrtZbj3vEXkr4dpyq-01NK-cL4-pzUZxbOltZMPY4xS5VSpri7UlEzckShxCNcQyUpOSb3rFeaeNqbl&typo=1>
Posted on October 8, 2017 1:09 pm<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http://electionlawblog.org/%3fp%3d95332&c=E,1,J7SKvFhPSV5bi58l4KV-EO-ULbKC1lKgRmXB6IJrR7MIcwyzLmEj3IVVTVWtTzDGm1hcfOpUKNdbp_mQV9b3q5AK0j2EnZb2xaMPZyn0Rd6cHuz4Aco,&typo=1> by Justin Levitt<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http://electionlawblog.org/%3fauthor%3d4&c=E,1,0Yk2H1VTB5WRpL9Z-IGzJ-J0FJun7nC9v2YMZyzd5Th6f2IBH5kudjOQugyR187dhkmigMpvVZHSr3aBkDhGVEnkypUbC9kEjOUm4A11c0nvVUklfjU,&typo=1>

Part of my role here in temporarily manning the helm of the ELB is to think What Would Rick Do?  And so I can’t let this piece on plutocratic candidates<https://www.salon.com/2017/10/08/camericas-plutocrats-are-running-for-political-office-across-the-country-can-our-democracy-survive_partner/> pass.


--
Justin Levitt
Professor of Law
Associate Dean for Research
Loyola Law School | Los Angeles
919 Albany St.
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