“The real difference between democracy and oligarchy is poverty and wealth. Wherever men rule by reason of their wealth, whether they be few or many, that is an oligarchy, and where the poor rule, that is a democracy.”  Aristotle

Between now and November 3, 2026, the airwaves, especially television, will be inundated with ads, promoting the qualifications of the respective electoral candidates, for whichever position: the House, Senate, governor, and other elected officials. What seems to be running common among both incumbent and candidates is the narrative about “our democracy” or “protecting our democracy.” I am especially taken aback by Black and so-called “progressives” using the same banal language, almost to the point of tears. They are totally oblivious to the fact that in a society divided into race and class, the theory and practice of democracy carries both a race and class characteristics. Democracy is not some abstract notion, but a concrete set of principles and activities that either reinforces the concept, weakens, and in extreme cases, obliterates it.

The Theory and Practice of Bourgeois Democracy

The Oxford American Dictionary defines democracy thus: “Government by the whole people of a country, especially through representatives whom they elect.” The genesis of democracy must be seen within the context of the socioeconomic system; it is its foundation. In that context, democracy reflects the interests of the socioeconomic system, whichever it is and forms the philosophical framework within which laws are formulated and the citizens participate. In capitalist society where private ownership of the productive means is the structure, it is naïve to think and expect that democracy would favor the poor and indigent over the rich and powerful. It stands to reason then that democracy cannot be spoken of in abstract terms; it must be qualified: working class democracy or bourgeois democracy. In capitalist society every Policy, legal, economic, political, even the ones that appear liberal, are geared to defend, and reinforce the rule of capital.

                Supreme Court judges - Photo: Fred Schilling

The corporate media, which is owned and controlled by a white, male, ruling class, have riveted in the minds of the populace, that they do live in a democracy. Unfortunately, there are those among us, Black and other elected officials of color, petty-bourgeois white liberals and so-called “progressives,” try desperately to convince those who know otherwise to believe and accept this fallacy. The Corporate Media, which is owned by white billionaires, is very instrumental and effective in shaping public opinion in the acceptance of this ruling class construct of “our democracy.” Despite the relentless attacks on Programs that offer assistance to poor people; the obscene millions of dollars spent by super PACs and billionaires during electoral campaigns, to either unseat an incumbent or defeat a hopeful; the gutting of the Voting Rights Act; the gerrymandering of electoral boundaries to influence the voting patterns of communities of color, and the relaxation of campaign financing guidelines by the Supreme Court, people still talk about “our democracy.” In a series of rulings, the Supreme Court has judicially protected and further cemented the rule of capital over the electoral process; the few has superseded the will of the many through the power of big money. Instead of protecting and guarding the Constitution against infringements and abuse, the Supreme Court has become an adversary by its rulings, of any semblance of governance by “the people of the country.”                                 

I have always contended that Black people should study Semantics, because it is one of the devices the media and those who choose to mislead uses to confuse and justify evil, thereby shaping public opinion in favor of said evil. There is an interesting article in Black Agenda Report that impressively confirms and exposes the fallacy of the narrative by the Corporate Media and distractors. This term is a ruling class and Corporate Media construct, meant to mislead, curb dissent, and sanitize the US’s role in atrocities committed at home and in Foreign Policy interventions and militarism. 

Bourgeois Democracy vs Working Class Democracy

US electoral politics have a history of being controlled and determined by the ruling class and their billionaire financiers. Political power is inseparable from economic power; the ownership of the means of production is the critical determinant in formulating and the dispensing of real democracy. True democracy cannot be practiced without changing the relations of production; the antagonism between capital and labor that exists in capitalist society. The New York Times quoted a former Montana governor that said:” Billionaires flood US campaigns with cash. The country is on the verge of becoming a place where wealthy people are able to spend millions of dollars to essentially direct how the government runs without breaking any law.” The citizens have the right to vote, and they do vote; but the real power, the real orchestration of Policies and their enforcement are not with the ordinary people. “Democracy means far more than the right to vote every five years. It means the right to participate in every aspect of national and community life.” – Michael Manley

Working class democracy means that the people who engage in social production and create the wealth of the society, are fully, meaningfully, and actively engaged in determining and enforcing Policies that improve their social condition. If democracy is a part of the theory and practice of political power, how it is achieved, used by whom, for or against whom, and most importantly how it is maintained, then the question becomes: can the working class who do not control state power, who do not have the structural capacity to effectuate laws and policies that are in their interests, can bourgeois democracy liberate the working class from capitalist exploitation and oppression?

The realization of democracy is inseparable from the well-being of the masses, in fact that is the fundamental reason they get involved in political action and Movements. This fact was not lost to Marin Luther King Jr.; he commented that “what good is having the right to sit at a lunch counter, if you cannot buy a hamburger? The electoral process as currently structured and practiced, does not represent or advance the interests of the working class. The only interests that are represented and disproportionately benefit, are the interests of capital; the “our democracy” narrative is not only hypocritical, but a myth totally divorced from objective reality. According to the late Guinean revolutionary Amilcar Cabral: “A genuinely democratic society requires reshaping the economic and class structures left behind by capitalism and colonialism, ensuring that the working and peasant classes remain the core driving force of political life.”