In America, all those that are citizens who are eighteen years of age, of either sex and of any race or creed are eligible to vote, though there are exceptions to this rule, such as those that are incarcerated felons, or even ex-felons. This would seem to suggest, since voters get to vote upon the biggest propositions, State and local elections, the members of congress, and the President, that the representatives of the people would truly be their representatives. While it is true, that the judicial branch is not typically voted upon by the people, the members selected for that branch, are nominated and selected by representatives of the people.
All of this, would suggest that in a country that as reported by cnn.com, in which: "The Top 1% now holds 38.6% of the nation's wealth," and "The bottom 90% now holds only 22.8% of the nation's total wealth," that such a massive disparity in wealth would be shrinking over time, but, in fact, that wealth has relentlessly been increasing in recent years, so that truly the superrich in America have seen their wealth compound and increase by dramatic amount whilst the vast majority of Americans have seen their aggregate wealth get appreciably lower.
While it is true, that America, as a land of entrepreneurs allows its citizens to pursue their financial goals without undue governmental interference, the fact that so few have so much, and that so many have so little, in the land in which in aggregate no country has more wealth in total, doesn't make any real logical sense, for the law makers elected by the people, are the same law makers that set the rules of the road in regards to taxation, capital accumulation, and re-distribution of a portion of that wealth, but the end results would indicate that the system is fundamentally flawed or corrupt or both.
America has a lot of laws, as well as its principles, in which some of these principles are lofty and seem on paper to be fair, such as our progressive income taxation, as well as estate taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, along with well reasoned governmental rules and regulations, in regards to minimum wages, welfare, and laws to protect the public, of which, all of these together, should be something that while permitting and encouraging innovation and hard work, also is providing a minimum safety net, fairness, and opportunity so that everyone can have some sort of presence or seat at the table of American prosperity.
The bottom line, though, is even though the poor and the middle class of America, do vastly outnumber the rich and the superrich of America, the power structure of this country does not reflect the democratic equality of all peoples within this nation, for the superrich despite being considerably outnumbered democratically for they are limited to just one vote per person, have in fit, form, and function, a system of laws and taxation that favors that class of people while suppressing as almost a permanent underclass the poor, along with foisting upon the backs of the middle class the full freight of such taxation, yet, not suffering from such, themselves.
This would so indicate, that the democratic vote in its implementation, gives the public the illusion that this is a government of and by the people, whereas, in reality it certainly is not.