To the Greeks, the great enemy of Democracy was Oligarchy. A democracy slowly turns into an oligarchy when a small group of people, usually excessively rich, gain control of the institutions and offices of the government. The nation then dies a death from within rather than from external enemies such as communist or fascist states. The primary difference between oligarchy and democracy is that oligarchs never give up power while democratically elected people retire and pass their power on to a new generation. If there are lots of old people in power claiming you need to fight for democracy, that’s a good sign that you actually live in an oligarchy.

As of the 2024 election, it’s clear that America has become an oligarchy. The political parties, commanded by their wealthy donors, have chosen the same two nominees as four years ago. Neither candidate is the kind of person ordinary people in a democracy would elect. They are both unfit for office; one due to advancing old-age dementia and the other due to narcissistic dementia that seems to effectively hide old-age dementia. Both people want to cling to power, one after they were told by voters to leave and the other after they should have retired. ‘We the people’ look on and wonder how we got here.

In an oligarchy, a compromised president is (to use a computer software term) ‘not a bug but a feature’. Democracy works through healthy compromise; oligarchs want unhealthy compromise. In this way they gain an influential edge. If they prop up a fellow oligarch through their donations, they have more asking power later. Court rulings of bribes as acceptable gifts and ‘official acts’ being above any legal code are more tools to empower rich oligarchs and support crime families. Excessive lying, criminal convictions, and poor debate performances are followed by massive hauls in donations, effective proof that donors want a compromised president.

As of early July 2024, there’s no way remaining for America to have a democratic election in November. The nominating process takes too long. Replacing either of the nominees wouldn’t be a democratic process; the primary votes and the campaign money are already tied to them. A brokered convention with oligarchs lurking isn’t a true democratic process either. Any court rulings on the election would probably be too late and are already bought and paid for anyway. The sitting president could now assassinate his rival as an official act to ‘save democracy’, but there isn’t really a democracy to save.

If there’s any hope left perhaps it lies in a former president in hospice care who willingly gave up his power and went on to build houses for ordinary folks. He’s been clinging to life for a while now, not wanting to give it up, and it seems fitting that he would die on July 4th. American Independence Day. It’s perhaps a ridiculous notion to hope he dies tomorrow and something shifts in the way Americans think. Maybe if there is any magic left to the idea of American democracy, the dying man will take both of the old oligarchs running for office with him, leaving America with a chance for a new start with new candidates … a rebirth.