&gt;Wealth is the promise (perhaps false) of satisfaction<p>I think, perhaps, you are speaking of the kind of wealth accumulated by middle class families. I&#x27;m speaking of the billions accumulated by Jeff Bezos, which allows him to purchase the Washington Post (etc). You might call this &quot;satisfaction&quot;, but at this scale it&#x27;s raw power - the ability to command resources and bend them to your purpose.<p>&gt;Democracy is another form of power. It is influenced by money, but not totally.<p>Democracy is quite strongly influenced by money. I&#x27;m sure you&#x27;ve seen this study: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;scholar.princeton.edu&#x2F;sites&#x2F;default&#x2F;files&#x2F;mgilens&#x2F;files&#x2F;gilens_and_page_2014_-testing_theories_of_american_politics.doc.pdf" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;scholar.princeton.edu&#x2F;sites&#x2F;default&#x2F;files&#x2F;mgilens&#x2F;fil...</a> which purports to demonstrate that American democracy responds exactly to the interests of economic elites and not to popular will. Popular will is much weaker than the influence of money. There is an entire (unelected) arm of government that is devoted to lobbying and writing legislation on behalf of monied interests; half of Congress leaves and joins this arm when their term is up.<p>I&#x27;m not saying these things are inevitable, that monetary wealth cannot be constrained by democratic power, etc., just that this is not how things currently stand.