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.