Rule by Thieves: The Police State Becomes a Pay-to-Play Shadow Government

Source: CounterPunch
by John W Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead

“America has been backsliding into kleptocratic territory for years now, but this may finally be it. A kleptocracy is literally ‘rule by thieves.’ It is a form of government in which a network of ruling elites ‘steal public funds for their own private gain using public institutions.’ … One could fairly say that a kleptocracy was always going to be the end result of the oligarchy that was America. The signs were visible long before now: power and wealth have been trading places for decades.” (11/06/25)

https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/11/06/rule-by-thieves-the-police-state-becomes-a-pay-to-play-shadow-government/