Fat cat

Last updated

Caricature of a fat cat The Subsidised Mineowner.jpg
Caricature of a fat cat

Fat cat is a political term originally describing a rich political donor, also called an angel or big-money man. [1]

Contents

The New York Times has described fat cats as symbols of "a deeply corrupt campaign finance system riddled with loopholes", with Americans seeing them as recipients of the "perks of power", but able to "buy access, influence policy and even veto appointments". [2]

It is also commonly used to describe a rich, powerful and greedy person who, due to ownership of large amounts of capital, is able to "live easy" off the work of others. In the United Kingdom, it is also used to refer to executives whose pay is deemed by others to be excessive. [3]

History

1917 caricature of "Organized Big Business Interests" Caricature of "Organized Big Business Interests".jpg
1917 caricature of "Organized Big Business Interests"

The word was first used in the 1920s in the United States to describe rich political donors. [4] [5]

The term's coinage for political purposes has been attributed to Frank Kent, a writer for The Baltimore Sun [6] whose essay "Fat Cats and Free Rides" appeared in the American Mercury , a magazine of commentary run by H. L. Mencken. [7] Kent wrote:

A Fat Cat is a man of large means and slight political experience who, having reached middle age, and success in business, and finding no further thrill, sense or satisfaction in the mere piling up of more millions, develops a yearning for some sort of public honor, and is willing to pay for it. There are such men in all the States, and they are as welcome to the organization [i.e., the party] as the flowers in May. They relieve the pressure all along the line, lighten the load, make life brighter and better for the busy machine workers. The [political] machine has what the Fat Cat wants [i.e., public honor], and the Fat Cat has what the machine must have, to wit, money [8]

The 1960 campaign for the Democratic nomination to the presidency was marked by competition between fellow Senators Hubert Humphrey and John F. Kennedy. Their first meeting was in the Wisconsin primary, where Kennedy's well-organized and well-funded campaign defeated Humphrey's energetic but poorly funded effort. Humphrey objected to the media, "The Kennedy forces are waging a psychological blitz that I cannot match. I'm not the candidate of the fat cats." [9]

A 1972 book by sociologist G. William Domhoff, titled Fat Cats and Democrats, contrasted the Democratic Party's perceived populism with its funding structure. In Domhoff's view, "Short of a nationwide system of public financing for candidates ... it seems likely that wealthy fat cats will find one way or another to finance the candidates of their choice." [10]

The campaign finance reforms following the Watergate scandal greatly reduced the amount of money that individuals could contribute to a political campaign. [11] In the words of Ben J. Wattenberg, "The fat cats were driven from the temple". [12]

During a 1997 $1,000-per-plate dinner at the Hilton Washington for the Republican Party, which The New York Times dubbed "a lucrative display of the resilience of big-money campaign fund-raising", street protesters calling for further reform dressed in "fat cat" costumes and chanted "Hey, hey, ho, ho! Corporate fat cats have to go!" [13] In the 2008 Democratic race, a group of wealthy backers of Sen. Hillary Clinton wrote to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, warning her they might withdraw financial support for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee if Pelosi did not change her position on whether the party's superdelegates "should support the party's pledged delegate leader". [14] According to OpenSecrets, the signers included donors such as Haim Saban and Robert L. Johnson, and had given the party nearly $24 million since 2000. [15] In response, the grassroots liberal political action committee MoveOn called the move "the worst kind of insider politics -- billionaires bullying our elected leaders into ignoring the will of the voters", but reassured members that "when we all pool our resources, together we're stronger than the fat cats." [14]

Use in culture and imagery

The word has since acquired a meaning of a rich, powerful person of possibly "undeserved" wealth. It is now commonly used in editorial cartoons. [16] [17] [18] In the British printed media, a fat cat is often depicted as a cat-faced, corpulent, middle-aged man clad in a pin striped suit and holding or smoking a thick cigar, representing a venal banker or a high earner executive or "captain of industry".

It is also a term familiar with musicians. James Brown's 1973 song "Down and Out in New York City" includes the lyrics "All the fat cats, in the bad hats". Muse's 2009 song "Uprising" also references the term in its lyrics: "Rise up and take the power back; it's time the fat cats have a heart attack". The punk band NOFX repeatedly uses the term in their song "Perfect Government" on their album Punk in Drublic ("How did the cat get so fat?").[ citation needed ]

American white nationalist Dr. William Luther Pierce's book The Turner Diaries includes the term in chapter XV, in a line that says "since we switched to large-scale actions we've begun tapping some new sources of contribution-mostly fat cats buying 'insurance,' I suspect- ..."[ citation needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

A plutocracy or plutarchy is a society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income. The first known use of the term in English dates from 1631. Unlike most political systems, plutocracy is not rooted in any established political philosophy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1968 United States presidential election</span> 46th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1968 United States presidential election was the 46th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 5, 1968. The Republican nominee, former vice president Richard Nixon, defeated both the Democratic nominee, incumbent vice president Hubert Humphrey, and the American Independent Party nominee, former Alabama governor George Wallace. This was the last election until 1988 in which the incumbent president was not on the ballot. This is the most recent election where a third-party candidate won a state.

In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The legal term PAC was created in pursuit of campaign finance reform in the United States. Democracies of other countries use different terms for the units of campaign spending or spending on political competition. At the U.S. federal level, an organization becomes a PAC when it receives or spends more than $1,000 for the purpose of influencing a federal election, and registers with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), according to the Federal Election Campaign Act as amended by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. At the state level, an organization becomes a PAC according to the state's election laws.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Campaign finance</span> Political vote advocacy funding

Campaign finance, also known as election finance, political donations or political finance, refers to the funds raised to promote candidates, political parties, or policy initiatives and referendums. Donors and recipients include individuals, corporations, political parties, and charitable organizations.

Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status, usually are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper class is generally distinguished by immense wealth which is passed on from generation to generation. Prior to the 20th century, the emphasis was on aristocracy, which emphasized generations of inherited noble status, not just recent wealth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rob Andrews</span> American politician (born 1957)

Robert Ernest Andrews is an American politician who served as a U.S. representative for New Jersey's 1st congressional district from 1990 to 2014. The district included most of Camden County and parts of Burlington County and Gloucester County. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexandra Pelosi</span> American journalist (born 1970)

Alexandra Corinne Pelosi is an American journalist, documentary filmmaker, and writer. She is a daughter of Nancy Pelosi, the former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and Paul Pelosi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Campaign finance in the United States</span> Contributions to American election campaign funds

The financing of electoral campaigns in the United States happens at the federal, state, and local levels by contributions from individuals, corporations, political action committees, and sometimes the government. Campaign spending has risen steadily at least since 1990. For example, a candidate who won an election to the House of Representatives in 1990 spent on average $407,600, while the winner in 2022 spent on average $2.79 million; in the Senate, average spending for winning candidates went from $3.87 million to $26.53 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1960 Democratic National Convention</span> U.S. political event held in Los Angeles, California

The 1960 Democratic National Convention was held in Los Angeles, California, on July 11–15, 1960. It nominated Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts for president and Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas for vice president.

In the 2008 United States presidential election, fundraising increased significantly compared to the levels achieved in previous presidential elections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1960 Democratic Party presidential primaries</span> Selection of the Democratic Party nominee

From March 8 to June 7, 1960, voters and members of the Democratic Party elected delegates to the 1960 Democratic National Convention through a series of caucuses, conventions, and primaries, partly for the purpose of nominating a candidate for President of the United States in the 1960 election. The presidential primaries were inconclusive, as several of the leading contenders did not enter them, but U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts emerged as the strongest candidate and won the nomination over Lyndon B. Johnson at the convention, held from July 11 to 15 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310 (2010), is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States regarding campaign finance laws and free speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The court held 5–4 that the freedom of speech clause of the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting independent expenditures for political campaigns by corporations, nonprofit organizations, labor unions, and other associations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010 California Proposition 27</span> Ballot measure in California

Proposition 27 was an unsuccessful ballot proposition on the November 2, 2010 ballot in California, placed there by the initiative process. If approved, this measure would have repealed California Proposition 11 (2008), which authorized the creation of the California Citizens Redistricting Commission to draw the electoral boundaries for State Assembly and State Senate districts. It would also have modified the provision in California law that says that proposed congressional districts can not be subjected to a veto referendum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No Labels</span> American political organization

No Labels is an American political organization whose stated mission is to support centrism and bipartisanship through what it calls the "commonsense majority". No Labels was founded in 2010 as a 501(c)(4) by current president and CEO Nancy Jacobson.

Political finance covers all funds that are raised and spent for political purposes. Such purposes include all political contests for voting by citizens, especially the election campaigns for various public offices that are run by parties and candidates. Moreover, all modern democracies operate a variety of permanent party organizations, e.g. the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee in the United States or the Conservative Central Office and the Labour headquarters in the United Kingdom. The annual budgets of such organizations will have to be considered as costs of political competition as well. In Europe the allied term "party finance" is frequently used. It refers only to funds that are raised and spent in order to influence the outcome of some sort of party competition. Whether to include other political purposes, e.g. public relation campaigns by lobby groups, is still an unresolved issue. Even a limited range of political purposes indicates that the term "campaign funds" is too narrow to cover all funds that are deployed in the political process.

Arnold Hiatt is an American businessman who was the president of the Stride Rite footwear company. He was a large contributor to political campaigns for the Democratic Party as well as being a voice calling for money to get out of politics. He has called for serious electoral reform and public financing of elections. Hiatt was praised by Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig for his stance on electoral reform.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dark money</span> Undisclosed American political contributions

In politics, particularly the politics of the United States, dark money refers to spending to influence elections, public policy, and political discourse, where the source of the money is not disclosed to the public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hillary Victory Fund</span>

The Hillary Victory Fund was a joint fundraising committee for Hillary for America, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and 33 state Democratic committees. As of May 2016, the Fund had raised $61 million in donations.

The Lincoln Bedroom for contributors controversy was an American political controversy in the 1990s during the Clinton Administration. It refers to the alleged selling of overnight stays in the Lincoln Bedroom in the White House in return for political campaign contributions. It occurred in the context of the larger and somewhat separately focused 1996 United States campaign finance controversy. Despite allegations of wrongdoing the justice department never opened an investigation or pressed criminal charges in connection to the Lincoln Bedroom matter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1960 United States presidential election in West Virginia</span> Election in West Virginia

The 1960 United States presidential election in West Virginia took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. West Virginia voters chose eight representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

References

  1. "Of Fat Cats and Other Angels". Time . November 29, 1971. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
  2. Richard L. Berke (February 17, 2002). "Money Talks; Don't Discount the Fat Cats". The New York Times . Retrieved March 31, 2008.
  3. "Fat cats feeding". The Economist. October 9, 2003.
  4. Fat Cat, in Ayto, John (2006). Movers and Shakers: A Chronology of Words that Shaped Our Age, Oxford University Press
  5. Merriam Webster Online, fat cat
  6. "Scratching the First Teflon Presidency: Frank Kent vs. Franklin Roosevelt". United States Department of Education . Retrieved April 6, 2008.
  7. David G. Farber (2002). Sloan Rules: Alfred P. Sloan and the Triumph of General Motors. University of Chicago Press. ISBN   0-226-23804-0.
  8. Kent, Frank W. (1928). "Fat Cats and Free Rides". American Mercury. XIV (54): 129–132.
  9. "Plenty of Jack". Time. March 28, 1960. Archived from the original on October 8, 2010. Retrieved April 6, 2008.
  10. G. William Domhoff (March 2005). "Third Parties Don't Work: Why and How Egalitarians Should Transform the Democratic Party" . Retrieved April 5, 2008.
  11. Jean Hardisty (1999). Mobilizing Resentment: Conservative Resurgence from the John Birch Society to the Promise Keepers . Wilma P. Mankiller. Beacon Press. ISBN   0-8070-4317-6.
  12. Ben J. Wattenberg (1984). The Good News is the Bad News is Wrong . Simon & Schuster. ISBN   0-671-60641-7.
  13. Francis X. Clines (May 14, 1997). "A Dining-for-Dollars Gala Fattens the G.O.P.'s Coffers". The New York Times . Retrieved April 6, 2008.
  14. 1 2 Rebecca Sinderbrand (March 27, 2008). "MoveOn takes on Clinton's moneyed supporters". CNN . Retrieved April 6, 2008.
  15. Lindsay Renick Mayer (March 27, 2008). "Democratic Donors Send $24 Million Letter to Pelosi". Public Eye. OpenSecrets. Archived from the original on March 31, 2008.
  16. Bell, Steve (July 27, 2002). "The crusade against the corporate frod". The Guardian . Retrieved October 12, 2015.
  17. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 12, 2013. Retrieved November 12, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  18. http://www.ibiblio.org/Dave/Dr-Fun/df200304/df20030404.jpg [ bare URL image file ]