FREE with Clara Mattei Legal Corruption: How Power Really Works | Camila Vergara & Clara Mattei
Sep 3, 2025
Camila Vergara, a political theorist and author, joins Clara Mattei to unravel the concept of systemic corruption—how our legal frameworks uphold oligarchic power. They discuss how the U.S. constitution was crafted to protect the wealthy, making inequality a feature, not a flaw. Elections, they argue, deepen this divide instead of remedying it, while revealing that real democracy often resembles an oligarchy. They also highlight past popular movements that challenged these structures and propose practical local projects for genuine change.
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Constitutional Rules Can Entrench Oligarchy
- The U.S. Constitution and laws were designed to reproduce elite power, not automatically to empower the majority.
- Camila Vergara calls this structural capture 'systemic corruption' where enrichment happens legally because the rules enable it.
Debt, Rebellion, And The Founders' Response
- After the War of Independence many veterans fell into debt, lost property, and were disenfranchised, which provoked courthouse burnings and rebellions.
- Framers then wrote a constitution to restrain popular power and protect creditor and property interests.
Elections Can Alienate Representatives
- Elections create psychological and material detachment between representatives and voters, insulating officeholders from daily accountability.
- Vergara argues recall mechanisms and other direct-democratic tools are necessary to counteract that insulation.
