After reading C. Wright Mills'
From The Power Elite I believe he has made some valid points but overall I do not agree with his interpretation of the distribution of power in our modern democracy. Mills states that the elite power in our country is composed of, "...men whose positions enable themselves to transcend the ordinary environments of ordinary men and women; they are in positions to make decisions having major consequences." This statement supports that idea that influence is different from power ad I completely agree with this. I do not believe that wealthy people necessarily have power over the common person because they do not create or carry out policy. I do believe however, that money and status are both very influential. Zach and Sarah used the example of Bill Gates and Common Core which demonstrates how a wealthy individual cannot physically pass a law on his own, yet he can donate large sums of money to a party or candidate who is then influenced to look out for Gates' best interest once in office. The excerpt also claims that, "...major national power now resides in the economic, the political, and the military domains." This is something I also agree with because these groups named have legitimate authority and their decisions will affect the majority of Americans.
I disagree with Mills' idea of lesser institutions and their level of power. Instead, I support the hyperpluralism theory which states that the smaller, individual groups are so strong that they control policy and make the government weaker. This theory better represents the distribution of power in our democracy today and can be proven by the number of conflicting policies we have. Since all of these interest groups are competing for the greatest influence, eventually the government is forced to compromise resulting in confusing policy in attempt to please all of these groups. Obama's foreign policy is evident of this theory. I have attached a link to an article that further explains how much contradiction this policy contains more specifically. Overall, though Mills makes some accurate claims about who the elite power includes in our country, I disagree with his idea of how the power is distributed among the nation.
https://consortiumnews.com/2014/08/21/behind-obamas-chaotic-foreign-policy/
I agree with your idea that influence is different from power. The group of elites that Mills described in his article do not have direct power in the government because they cannot pass policy. I also agree that our current situation can be best described as hyperpluralism. There are many interest groups all competing for government influence. The government tries to make everyone happy and ends up creating confusing policy. In the end, money can only get you so far. No matter how much money you have, you are not necessarily in the position to make policy but you may have more influence.
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