So Much for Democracy

Americans seem to think that they are citizens of a self-governing democracy.  Actually, democratic self-government is not possible in a regime where

• immense wealth and influence are concentrated in a few hands
• an unelected, irresponsible, and heavily biased mass media control public discourse
• the political process is dominated by advertising men
• the population is rapidly changing from the massive immigration of foreigners
• the most important decisions are made by courts and the executive rather than the lawmakers
• much of government activity is secret
• much of the public has a childish attention span
• the education system turns out large numbers of people who lack both genuine learning and common sense, who think they are more intelligent and knowledgeable than they are.