Why do billionaires keep presenting themselves as America's great new hope?

By Nathan Robinson

From Ross Perot to Tom Steyer, rich megalomaniacs run for president by preying on voters’ disillusionment

Stephen Lam/Reuters

‘Steyer has been the embodiment of the anti-democratic tendencies in the Democratic party.’

The past week saw both the passing of Ross Perot and the entry of Tom Steyer into the presidential race. It’s fitting that the two events should coincide – as one billionaire presidential candidate leaves us, another steps up to take his place. But while “rich guy who tells it like it is” candidates are not necessarily doomed to electoral oblivion – one of them sits in the White House today – they represent everything dysfunctional about US democracy.

More at The Guardian