Great essay by Ellen Brown:
The stages of the capture of democracy by big money are traced in a paper called “The Collapse of Democratic Nation States” by theologian and environmentalist Dr. John Cobb. Going back several centuries, he points to the rise of private banking, which usurped the power to create money from governments:
The influence of money was greatly enhanced by the emergence of private banking. The banks are able to create money and so to lend amounts far in excess of their actual wealth. This control of money-creation . . . has given banks overwhelming control over human affairs. In the United States, Wall Street makes most of the truly important decisions that are directly attributed to Washington.
Today the vast majority of the money supply in Western countries is created by private bankers. That tradition goes back to the 17th century, when the privately-owned Bank of England, the mother of all central banks, negotiated the right to print England’s money after Parliament stripped that power from the Crown. When King William needed money to fight a war, he had to borrow. The government as borrower then became servant of the lender.
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/04/06/how-america-became-oligarchy
By the way, the US was founded as a republic, not a democracy, but has become an oligarchy. For a 10 minute video explaining the differences, go here:
https://youtu.be/jRQ76FYvw7M
Some will argue that the public form of government in the US is mere window dressing and that the country really is run by the "deep state". Such an interpretation is, I believe, a refinement of what Ms. Brown's essay states.
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