Oligarchy

Oligarchy is a city divided by wealth, where love of money replaces love of honor, and the poor are excluded from rule.

Oligarchy mistakes wealth for virtue and awards political power to the propertied, though wealth does not qualify a man to rule.

The lives of lawgivers and statesmen show how concentrated wealth corrupts republics and how wise legislation can prevent it.

Oligarchy is a corrupt form of government in which the few rule for their own enrichment rather than for the common good.

Aristocracies inevitably decay into oligarchies as ruling families pursue private advantage; only popular institutions can check this cycle.

When moderation abandons an aristocracy and wealth becomes its sole principle, the republic dies.

Private property creates inequality, inequality creates oligarchy, and oligarchy corrupts the social bond that makes free government possible.

Democratic societies face a new danger: not the old oligarchy of landed wealth, but a manufacturing aristocracy that combines economic power with political indifference.

The modern state is the executive committee of the bourgeoisie; political oligarchy is inseparable from capitalist economic relations.