Control of the wealth and resources of the world is the major class battle and the major democratic battle at the close of this century. If democracy means power to the people, then the concentration of power into a handful of super rich individuals and corporations constitutes an assault on democracy. The laws of capitalist economics are in contradiction with the expansion of democracy. The fundamental contradiction of capitalism is that production is social, involving many people at work, but the fruit of the workers' labor is privately owned and controlled at the whim of the owners. In today's advanced, global stage of capitalism, the struggle for democracy has greatly sharpened.
Exploitation is inherently undemocratic.
The wealth of the world's richest three families is more than the poorest 48 nations. What voice does the majority have when the richest of the rich buy elections and pay taxes at rates far lower than 30 years ago and far less than they can afford. The curtailment of democracy can be measured in the rise of racism, capitalism's most potent weapon for increasing profits and keeping working class people divided. One of every 14 African American young men is now in prison. In some states, up to 25 percent of Black males are denied the right to vote because of their past or present encounters with the prison system.