What passes for democracy today is nothing more than plutocracy - rule by the wealthy. And the wealthy will never willingly give up their power.

The way they hold on to their power is by putting in place subtle mechanisms, invisible to all but the most perceptive, which ensure that you and I are kept on the treadmill of debt while thinking we are free. Of course, that treadmill is all the time sucking out the wealth created by our efforts and putting it in the pockets of the super-rich.

We therefore have the farce of elections that enable us to choose between political parties all serving the same master - whichever one we choose can only work within rules imposed from outside, those rules having one purpose only - to ensure that the flow of money is kept up.

For a democracy to work, it must put the power back in the hands of the people. In order for their elected representatives to properly serve them, the people must have control of the money given to them to carry out their wishes. The people must decide the amount they are prepared to pay for the politicians to do the job. Ways for achieving this are outlined in Roger Rothenberger′s book Beyond Plutocracy.