I agree that that is what she meant, and in any case, it is what I mean. We don't have a democracy. We have a corporate kleptocracy, and it is hard to imagine that peak oil stress is going to cause a flourishing of a "power to the people" movement. The stakes will rise, the resources will shrink, and the corporate interests will ultimately take over completely.

In fact I'd argue that it is the oil age bubble that has allowed what little democracy we have in the U.S. to remain in operation these last 100 years. So great has been the abundance of American agriculture and energy that even the greediest private interests haven't been able to take everything or drive the "public interest" out of government entirely.

In the future, a future of scarcity and economic losers, it is easy to forsee that things could get less democratic, less open to the interests of the common person, less isolated from corporate interests.

It's a paradox. If a system is elected and "democratic", how do you prevent a few-well organized and financed special interests from out-organizing and out-spending the more or less inattentive "general population" to ensure that government prioritizes their agenda before the long-term interests of the overall society.

If a government has the authority to toss said special interests off the table, it's not democratic. And when the special interests take control, it ceases to be democratic.

Antoinetta III