Abstract

It is still said, maybe believed in Texas and Alaska, that in the American democracy the people are approximately equal and they are free in choosing and influencing those who govern them and deal with the rest of the world. In fact American democracy is hierarchic democracy. The American people, of course, like any other, is for general purposes rightly thought about in terms of classes somehow understood -- as Americans themselves have lately been saying. The fundamental classes surely are neither equal nor free in choosing and influencing their government. They are instead a hierarchy, ranked from top to bottom.