The Ruling Class

"What news in this our tottering state?" asked the Duke of Buckingham in Shakespeare's Richard III. The news in our contemporary tottering state is equally bleak as this quote from The Economist will show:

The Economist notes that "if democracy means multi-party competition at the grass roots, America is not a full democracy in elections to the House of Representatives." "The sheer uncompetitiveness of most House races takes one's breath away. In 2002, four out of five of them were won by more than 20 points. The average margin was a stunning two to one, meaning some races had even bigger margins. Last time, 200 races had margins of 40 points of more and 80 were uncontested. So far this year, the uncontested figure is 68. In 2002, just four incumbents lost to challengers at the polls (another four lost in primaries). North Korea might be proud of the incumbent re-election rate: 99%. More than nine in ten Americans live in districts that are, in practice, one-party monopolies."