This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Oligarchs are rich businessmen with a great deal of political influence, e.g. the Koch brothers and their billionaire buddies. They are interested in reducing regulations so their industries can pollute the environment and increase their profits; they also want to reduce taxes for the 1 percent. They hide behind the facade of benefiting society. Unfortunately, many people are fooled by the facade and as a result vote against their own best interests. For example, in Utah our members of Congress are beholden to big-money donors from outside the state of Utah to finance their (re)election campaigns and therefore have no incentive to represent the people who voted them into office. Their real constituents are the big-money people who fund their campaigns. Wake up! Stop voting for them and sending them back to Washington to do the bidding of the oligarchs who support their campaigns.
John Walker
Salt Lake City