America is supposed to be the epitome of representative democracy, in which the people choose those that shall govern them, under the impression that the policies that the majority of franchised people so desire to have put in place are thus enacted, subject to proper Constitutional restraints, of which, that Constitution is the highest law of the land. That would seem to suggest that any policy, such as, for example, our current tax policy, that somehow clearly favors the biggest and most powerful corporations and individuals, could not ever be in effect, because in a nation in which each person, gets exactly one vote, and of which, the vast majority of Americans are not part of that elite, would surely not then countenance such a tax policy that is so favorable for the elite. Yet, the proof is the eating of the pudding, of which, seldom, have the superrich corporations as well as superrich individuals paid less in taxes, then what so occurs, today.
Further to the point, we read at vox.com, that “…average citizens only get what they want if economic elites or interest groups also want it.” In other words, Americans clearly don’t live in a true representative democracy, because one way or another, those that are the elites, along with their very powerful special interest groups, working hand in glove with governmental representatives and law makers, make sure that the policies so enacted within America, are reliably consistent not with the people’s desires, but rather are consistent with what those that are the elites and the special interest groups want to see enacted, instead.
So then, while the democratic vote, seems to be at this point, pretty fairly in the hands of the people, those that have the highest vested interest in seeing a particular result in regards to a given proposition, or of a representative so running, are incredibly adept at doing what so needs to get done, so that what is subsequently passed or the person so duly elected, is very much to the liking of those elites. The bottom line is that the average person has an awful lot on their plate in regards to their job, school, bills, and family duties, which precludes a lot of those same people, from paying a whole lot of personal attention to what is or what is not on a particular ballot, signifying that a lot of those same people, can be influenced to vote a certain way, by those interests that make it their point to know how best to manipulate people to vote the way of the elite’s preference.
The way that democracy is supposed to work, is that it should be a level playing field, in which, those with lots of money and influence, should be neutralized in a way and manner, that what is being voted upon, will actually be voted upon by its merits, rather than to have a situation in which those that have bucketloads of money while also being highly adept at skillfully influencing such, are able to “boss” their way to their desired result, time and time again. In short, to know whether or not democracy is working in a given country can be fairly adjudged by whether or not the equality of that nation is getting ever worse, or becoming more fair.