: a form of government in which people choose leaders by voting
: a country ruled by democracy
: an organization or situation in which everyone is treated equally and has equal rights
ol·i·gar·chy
noun \'ä-l?-?gär-ke, 'o-\
: a country, business, etc., that is controlled by a small group of people
: the people that control a country, business, etc.
: government or control by a small group of people
re·pub·lic
noun \ri-'p?-blik\
: a country that is governed by elected representatives and by an elected leader (such as a president) rather than by a king or queen
It might appear that the United States of America is some kind of hybrid government with characteristics of all 3 of these. It surely does elect a president, legislators, etc. by voting and is governed by those elected; add to that how a small group of Supreme Court Justices control the way those elected officials govern and you've got all three forms of government at work.
I think we must go deeper into the way things are done and look at how those who get elected do so. There is no doubt that elections are enormously impacted by the money spent campaigning. No one is going to launch a successful campaign without money to pay for travel, accomodations and personal expenses of the candidate. Add to this salaries for secretaries, directors, coordinators, field workers, etc. as well as advertising, publicity and public relations expenditures.
Money is one thing and time is another. A candidate has to be able to allocate much of his/her time to campaign which takes away time from career, business, family, recreation and personal goals other than politics.
Still; getting the money to run a campaign is vital and a candidate will find the time if he/she can get the money.
Those who provide the money often expect something in return and they get it. This is the system we have today. A system where the money drives the political process and decides the policies of the winning administration. We know that by the promises that so often are made but not kept by politicians. Once elected our leaders too often are strong armed into fulfilling private promises to benefactors rather than general 'what's best for the people' obligations to the country.
When you consider that those with economic power strong enough to influence powerful leaders are only about 1% of us and 9 Supreme Court Justices decide how we interpret our laws we come to a revelation; oligarchy.
It is with some disappointment that I must opine that the government of the United States of America is not a Republican government, nor a Democratic government but in fact it is an Oligarchy.