How billionaires are rewriting history and democracy

Once you pass a certain threshold of wealth, it seems, mere possessions no longer thrill. At the billionaire's scale, you wake up in the morning searching for something grand enough to justify your own existence, something commensurate with your supposed singularly historical importance

- Ahmed Bouzid, Tribune News Service

A group of world-known billionaires attend the Inauguration of Donald J. Trump in the US Capitol Rotunda in Washington, DC

(File/Tribune News Service)

n the Gilded Age of the millionaire, wealth signified ownership. The titans of old built railroads, monopolised oil, and bought their indulgences in yachts, mansions, and eventually, sports teams. A franchise was the crown jewel: a visible, glamorous token of success. But that era is over. Today's billionaires, those who tower, not with millions but with unimaginable billions, find sports teams and other baubles beneath them. For this new aristocracy, the true prize is authorship of History (with a capital “H”) itself.

Once you pass a certain threshold of wealth, it seems, mere possessions no longer thrill. At the billionaire’s scale, you wake up in the morning searching for something grand enough to justify your own existence, something commensurate with your supposed singularly historical importance. To buy a team or build another mansion is routine, played, trite. To reshape the very framework of society — now that is a worthy stimulus. That is the game. And increasingly, billionaires are playing it.

Look closely at the moves of men like Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Marc Andreessen, Larry Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and others. Their empires extend, not just over products and markets but over political culture, public institutions, and even national policy.

They cast themselves as visionaries, masters of grand strategies invisible to ordinary eyes. They fund initiatives that fracture public life, manipulate information ecosystems, and bend governments toward serving private rather than public interests. Their reward is not merely financial return but the intoxicating sense of power that comes from steering the destiny of millions.