This is a good point. My understanding of history is that--even in democracies--the elite set the agenda as much as they can. Whatever gains the "left" make were hard fought and begrudgingly given by the "right."

Many years ago, I visited the Perstejn Castle in southern Moravia. This was where the feudalistic lords would gather to decide things. The castle was restored to its former glory, and coat-of-arms of all the great families were displayed on the halls. The names were of German and Polish origin. Yet the people of that area were at least 80% Czech.

We find interesting ways for the elite to govern.

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Corruption has always been there.

My definition of "banana republic" is how the elite steal money from government coffers. Sometimes it is small and subtle; sometimes it is large and overt. Today in the USA, it is overt. All the disruption in government operations are smokescreen for moving money around. It will likely be found to be large.

Alberta is going through a scandal these days. A small scale corruption is being exposed. The media are all over the story, except not really telling us the mechanism of how it works. These things are hard to prove.