What is the Deep State?

Uncovering the Deep State: Fox TV unsurprisingly had a series about it. Was it killed by the actual Deep State, or did it just have poor ratings?
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What is the Deep State? It is often talked about, alluded to in hushed whispers, or blamed for nefarious deeds. But what is it, exactly?

If the Deep State means industry leaders from the oil, defense (aka war), coal, pharma, private education, logistics (e.g. Post Office competitors) etc. sectors, president Trump has riddled his Administration with them, often running counter to the goals of the agencies they head. These become part of the bureaucracy, sometimes benignly called "career Civil Servants" though they can wield enormous power in their agencies by dint of their Deep Knowledge, experience, and connections. Elected officials come and go, but such bureaucrats can last years, even decades.

President Truman once said:

"[The American President] has to take all sorts of abuse from liars and demagogues." The people can never understand why the President does not use his supposedly great power to make 'em behave. Well, all the President is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway."

If the Deep State means Deep Pocket donations to Electeds at all levels, either directly, or, if that's not allowed, e.g. in New York City, where campaign donations by individuals are limited to $250-$2,000, depending on office - or even less if the donor does business with the city - then to Superpacs semi-aligned with candidate interests. The country has hundreds of such organizations. Indeed, Special Interests are the main way anyone's interests get expressed, whether Left or Right.

If the Deep State means revolving-door soft scientists and industry leaders in think tanks and meetings of the elites, e.g. Davos, Council on Foreign Relations, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, etc. the world has dozens of such organizations.

True, this .01% is still too many people to fit around a table in a Star Chamber, but they don't have to do that, since they all agree on the basic post-capitalist, influence-peddling, socialism for the rich & bailouts way of running things. They've gone to the same schools, mingled with the same people, and understand the same playbook rules to get things done.

The .01% needs help from the 1% or even the 10% at times. These are the police, the courts, and all those dedicated to basically preserving the status quo. It doesn't mean all these people are evil - indeed, when the other 90-99% of people think that, they may rise up to overthrow them; some of this is happening all over the world right now, and goes on periodically. But it does mean that they have just enough power and money to be afraid of losing what they have, of becoming poor or marginalized themselves, but not enough power and money to actually change things. That the job of the .01%.

Indeed, it's hard to imagine a Deeper State than the one that's already in control. That's not a conspiracy theory, it's a description of how things actually work in America and most of the world.

Discuss...while you still can.