Engage me in the debate.

I believe there is a deep state, but it's not a cabal of wealthy elites. It's entrenched bureaucrats that operate behind the scenes. Corruption in our government began in the 60s due to the cold War. Certain agencies grew to rapidly and were given too much unchecked maneuverability. The American public is to stupid to put limitations on them.

These officials have become major influencers when it comes to policy decisions. Corporations, bankers, big pharmaceutical, big tech, and the military industrial complex has learned to exploit their influence for their own profit, which enriches everyone involved at the expense of the people. The deep state manipulates the media and politicians via leaks and disinformation, which benefits everyone at the expense of the people. Any president is only as successful as his willingness to get in bed with the lot of them.

If I had to guess, the system was entrenched in the later years of the Reagan administration, but seems like a few of those factions were jockeying for control, but unified under the Trump administration due to their mutual dislike of him. Democrats have become the party of the deep state because they have adopted literally all of the policies that enable these industries to thrive, with the exception of big oil.

I'm typing this on my phone as I'm riding home from vacation, so some of this is stream of thought, but I think I can support most of it. I'm open to any additions or corrections. This is basically a rough draft that is open for criticism, but you have to be a pretty blind partisan or extremely naive to think none of this is likely.

---