Of the elite, for the elite

So direct democracy is a system of the people for the people. That is what we of the free world would like to believe. That is what we preach to the despots and the autocrats - and those whose resources we would like to control. Yet, closer to home, who really rules in this country of the brave and the free? Is it the people or the new elite - the wealthy and their lackeys, the lobbyists? Is it a democracy of the people for the people or is it a new system of elitism - of the elite for the elite?

Within a weekend, two major papers - The New York Times and the Boston Globe - have published columns on the nature of the ruling classes in the USA. The Sunday Globe ran a major piece, called 51 Angry Plebes, while the NY Times of today presented an article, called Lobbyist, Yes, the People, Maybe.

The Sunday Globe connected the influence of wealthy elites with the constitutional theories of Machiavelli, which set out to oppose such influences. It would seem, according to the Globe, that the Founding Fathers were more concerned about reigning in the masses and mobs than the wealthy. Today, the wealthy seem to rule the running of affairs in the USA. The NY Times reported that lobbyists are extending their activities even into local governments, collecting vast sums for earmarked projects that were successfully allotted to their masters. Notwithstanding ongoing criminal investigations into unlawful lobbying tactics, this form of graft seems to be rife in the US establishment.

Anduril is of the opinion that far from the wealthy having hijacked the US constitution, the Founding Fathers deliberately played into the hands of the wealthy. Powerful financial players existed in the forming days of the USA. It is not implausible that these players exerted their substantial influence upon the setting of the political foundations of the USA. The royal elite of Britain made way for the local establishment of wealth and power - even before the advent of the American Revolution.

Today, the American public may live the illusion of being in power, having full suffrage and democratic rule, but who are the demos that exert the real power? If middleclass America believes it is them who calls the tune, then they have to check again who pays the piper, for votes can be bought with glamour and glitter, the razzmatazz of political pageantry. And once voted into power, politicians dance obediently to the beat of good old graft.

While Mr and Mrs Smith celebrate their freedom, the wealthy individuals, corporations, industries pull the strings in Washington DC. You cannot vote them in or, more importantly, vote them out. And rather do not put your faith in your congressional representative and senator to stand in the cross-fire for you either. Meanwhile we all merrily tread the mill that line their pockets. Afterall, we need our defence, medicine, and let's not forget to fill that tank on the SUV.

However, while realising the dilemma is lofty, changing it is quite another matter. Those in power are not going to relinquish their grip to the plebes that churn their treadmills. Middleclass suburbia is too comfortable with their self-sufficient lifestyle to make the effort that will lift the wealthy from their plush cushions. These sorts of fundamental changes rarely happen without an endemic and enduring crisis, such as brought about the English revolution, the French Revolution, the South African revolution.

But the wheel goes round and round. Real political change starts in the minds of the middleclass. It is when they start writing about these ideas that the wheel gets rolling.