[user3939382]

> the interests of the general public are actually much more closely aligned with those of "the elite" far more than people would like to believe

If that were true corporate lobbying wouldn't exist, so this theory is obviously false.

We're talking about the money here.

Issues like guns, abortion, gay marriage -- social issues -- are used to divide and distract the public from the financial issues which our uniparty in DC almost always goes the same way on, and which the public generally does Not support.

Big pharma, the banks, the arms industry, big agriculture -- I mean do we really have to list every industry? All of them profit by subverting the interests of the public and they do, to the tune of trillions of dollars. "absurd to conclude that "democracy is a sham" -- not absurd, obvious.