Democracy is not some magic solution. It&#x27;s often described as the best of a lot of bad options. It can only be as intelligent and effective as a mob of of its average citizenry - which if you look at democracies in the third-world and developing world where your average person is uneducated - doesn&#x27;t lead to good results.<p>The best form of government has often been described as a benevolent dictatorship. This is closer to the form of governance of corporations and open-source projects. The problem is, there&#x27;s no easy way to guarantee the benevolent part.<p>I see no problem with people like Bill Gates having amassed power, money, and influence, because he can use it far more effectively than a mob of your average citizens would - the average citizen being a lot less educated and less intelligent than Bill Gates. Now, among the wealthy and powerful you also get types like the Koch brothers, who use their power for dubious ends - that&#x27;s inevitable in a capitalist system. There&#x27;s no way to prevent that aside from very strict socialism - which has the same economic problems seen in any communist country past or present. So for better or worse, I think we have to accept the influence of the wealthy.