Lots of people in DC and elsewhere seem to think they're really the people who do and should run things. Insidery elite media folks do. People in the Fed and Treasury do. The Pentagon does. Bankster CEOs do. And, of course, there are our massive secret and completely unaccountable surveillance state organizations. There are various degrees of transparency and accountability for these people and organizations. The surveillance state folk get to hide behind the fact that everything is classified and they're saving the country from the Bad People.
Not quite sure who really does run the country, but it probably isn't quite the democracy it's supposed to be.
