Americans have no power over the US Government.

@Burnley123 [quote] Via capitalism [/quote]

Do you mean via capitalists? The guy with the money buy up the votes? Money power against people power?

@Burnley123
You speak of economic structure here, not political structure as the OP posted.

@SlaveEt I think Burnley has a point. He needs to explain. I can never understand why a simple, straightforward presidential election would need the raising of a war chest amounting to billions of dollars.

@sree251
I understand his point and yours. The two are very closely linked. "Money is power" is a saying for a reason. However, "knowledge is power" is too.

@SlaveEt @sree251

Fair to ask me.

Under a capitalist system, money necessarily equates to power. Voting isn't nothing and different politicians can change things but only around the edges. Politicians who have gone heavily against what the rich and powerful want have often come to a sticky end. The best example I can give is when Salvadore Allende was elected as leader of Chile and instituted massive wealth redistribution programs. He also nationalised the copper and tin mines. The Chilean elite colluded with the CIA to overthrow his government and impose a dictatorship

More moderate examples exist all the time with how politics is policed by wealth. Obviously corporate lobbying is huge in America. Also, the media will always lean towards the interest of the wealthy because of advertiser's and the interests of their owners. If any government tried to put up taxes too much, there would be massive capital flight.

These things are inevitable when you have one group of people who own most of the wealth in society.

So I agree with the OP but would say that it runs even deeper

@SlaveEt [quote] However, "knowledge is power" is too. [/quote]

Knowledge is definitely power. There is a kind of power (of intellectuals) that money can buy for control of he people, and there is the other kind of knowledge that is a threat to money power.

@Burnley123 [quote] Politicians who have gone heavily against what the rich and powerful want have often come to a sticky end. [/quote]

Your analysis is food for thought. This is an aside, how does your above statement relate to Donald Trump who has gone against the powerful?

@sree251
He is one of them. He is wealthy himself and therefore outside their control. It is why they fear and hate him so much.

@sree251 In my view, he hasn't. He represents one wing of the rich and powerful against another.

He is a billionaire who is extensively backed by corporate money and imposed tax cuts for the rich when in office. Yes, liberal capitalists hate him but he's not about systemic change.

@Burnley123 [quote] These things are inevitable when you have one group of people who own most of the wealth in society.

So I agree with the OP but would say that it runs even deeper [/quote]

I think you have identified the root cause of the problem with American (capitalist) democracy. It is a political system for capitalists in the marketplace. This is why the ordinary American citizen has no power in a personal capacity as an individual. The US Constitution is misleading. It should not read "We, the people..". It should be revised to read "We, the corporations of the United States......" .

@sree251 corporate personhood started under Reagan, and was pretty much complete by Citizens United (early nineties),

it wasn't part of the Constitution.