So we let the rich donors run the party now?

[Daveigh]

20. Been this way since the Founding Fathers decided "democracy" was a dirty word

I’m certainly not a believer in the philosophy that only the wealthy should control politics, but that stance is nothing new.

https://www.voanews.com/a/usa_all-about-america_todays-democracy-isnt-exactly-what-wealthy-us-founding-fathers-envisioned/6201097.html

America’s Founding Fathers were among the wealthiest people in the Colonies when they drafted and signed the Constitution, and that’s pretty much who they expected to continue to guide the young nation.

“It was never meant to be a sort of direct democracy, where all Americans would get to cast a ballot on all issues,” says Andrew Wehrman, an associate professor of history at Central Michigan University. “The vote itself, they thought, ought to be reserved for people of wealth and education, but they certainly didn't want to restrict all those other kinds of political participation.”

The founders expected the common people, the poor and uneducated, to participate indirectly, through their local government, at town halls and meetings and through protest actions like boycotts.

Some of the founders were particularly concerned about populism and mob rule.

“These were the kinds [of people] that thought that democracy was a dirty word. Even John Adams said stuff like that. He didn't want poor people to vote, he didn't want women to vote,” Wehrman says.