A minority of eligible voters elects representatives.

Those representatives — often by bare majorities — empower bureaucrats who effectively write laws and impose penalties for the violation of same. Bureaucrats are barely constrained by statutory law, and the Constitution is nothing but a word to them.

Bureaucrats aren’t accountable to voters, nor do they care one whit about the “people’s representatives,” except those who funnel money their way. Representatives exercise power through their pet bureaucrats, and so they care more about them than about the wishes of the voters who put them in office. Civil-service protections ensure that bureaucrats almost never lose their jobs.

Judges — elected by a minority of eligible voters or appointed by representatives who are elected by a minority of eligible voters — interpret laws in accordance with their political views. This is especially true of so-called liberals, for whom the Constitution and constitutional laws are meaningless.

In sum, Americans’ lives are largely controlled by functionaries who do as they wish — regardless of the views of voters, the law, or the Constitution — because they can almost always count on holding office for as long as they wish, and exercising their power with near impunity.

That’s “democracy” in America.

Related reading, here.