The above quotation does not come from some socialist or communist personage, and it even predates the ratification of our Constitution, of which these poignant words comes to us by the very hand of James Madison, via the Federalist Number 10. For the most part, the wealth of a given nation, as well as of its people, is contained within the form of those possessions so owned by its people as well as by its corporations; in which present day America, despite having an abundance of wealth, which is surpassed by no other nation, has not only a disturbingly high amount of its citizens that are impoverished, but has in recent decades, seen the continual decline of its once vibrant middle class; of which the upshot of all this, is that fewer and fewer people and institutions within America own more and more of its assets.
In the natural order of things, even if all people were to begin at the same starting line, there would in a short order of time, be an unequal distribution of property, primarily because different people are not only actuated by different things, but also because some people work harder, or are clever, or are more fortunate, or are more intelligent, and so forth. In this, nothing can really be changed; but what can be changed is that through the power of government, its legislators, and its judicial system, that within such a government that is of, by, and for the people that we can make sure that appropriate rules and regulations, covering a multitude of areas can be utilized to effect wholesome change, so that the unequal distribution of property is mitigated in a manner in which each person is afforded the fair opportunity to make something of their selves, and especially in consideration that the starting line in America, from its inception, was not then, and is still not today, fair.
Instead, what we have, as described and prophesized by James Madison, are the divisive factions and cabals that we see today, of which, those that have, are often the very ones that fight the hardest (if not also the dirtiest) to not only just maintain what they have, but to increase their booty, as well as their power; which obviously is counter to the very principles of democratic government, and to this republic. While there are a multitude of ways for this government to effectively fight back against these divisive factions on behalf of the people as a whole, this can never be accomplished, when that government is in effect, either enthralled to a specific faction of privileged property people, or compromised by same, or fearful of such.
As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and clearly based on the grossly uneven distribution of property, income, and wealth along with the clear trends thereof, there is something that is seriously rotten in the country of America. Yet, considering that one person's enfranchised vote is the same as any other person's vote, there is then that hope that those enlightened enfranchised voters will appropriately use the ballot box to select and to thereby elect those that are of the people, to provide material benefit for the people, so that this country will truly be governed by the people, rather than have such governance usurped by today's corrupt royalty of those favored few and privileged personages.