Tocqueville was not entirely correct. It would be more correct to say that the upper middle class with aristocratic pretensions was emerging from the veneer of democracy. They are still emerging. It used to be that the "economic elites" controlled only the Republican Party. The top-down control that has marked the Republican party in recent years has now infected the Democratic Party. It is controlled by economic elites and their "free trade" policies. Was it a great surprise that both Clinton and Obama had identical polices on NAFTA and "free trade"? Was it a great surprise that the mainstream media quickly reduced the number of candidates in the debates to those two who supported the policies of the "economic elites"? We get to elect a woman or an African-American. It sounds great, but who controls them? However, this control by the economic elites is not restricted to America. We see the "New" Labor Party in Britain, the Social Democrats in Germany and other countries rolling over for the economic elites. Everybody has sold out, and it is everybody is responsible!

Pervis J. Casey

Riverside, CA