And privilege accruing to property ownership is a remnant of the aristocratic past. In the years just before World War I, kings and emperors sat enthroned atop most nations of the globe. But we have done so only in government. We have yet to democratize economics. In its emphasis on individuals getting what they earn, free-market theory points toward democratic outcomes, but in its insistence on stockholder primacy, corporate governance points toward aristocratic outcomes.
Corporate governance is antidemocratic.
The wealth-owning class today is a kind of secular aristocracy, much as dictators were secular monarchs. It is a myth with the force of law. We might call it our modern version of the divine right of kings. I believe that these myths arise not from evil intent but from unconscious prejudice. This is not a bias we hold consciously, because our legal structures hold it for us, as they once held biases favoring men over women, or whites over blacks.