Do we really have democracy in the west, or are we in fact ruled by an oligarchy, which consists of an elite and corporations?

I think whereever you are, its never a true democracy, because power is not with the people, its with the , well, powerful wealthy few. Unfortunately its true, and the majority is sadly brainwashed by corporations that tell them what to think.

Technically we're a Representative Republic.

But we've got the best politicians money can buy.

And when Republicans are in charge- we're a Kakistocracy.

What we are supposed be is a Republic , but what we are is an oligarchy.

http://www.wimp.com/thegovernment/

I think this is officially considered a Republic, since we cast votes to let the electoral college know how we feel about a subject and they do the actual voting.

But an oligarchy sure does sound familiar these days.

Good question. +5
Alex Carey, an Australian social scientist said: "... the 20th century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: The growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy."

We are seeing that now. Drug, Insurance, and large corporations are creating their own truth which is amazingly effective. This invented truth is causing a growing number of people to vote against their own interests. As you can see from recording of town meetings, senior citizens, on medicare, occasionally in medicare provided scooters, are rallying against government sponsored health insurance. In effect, they are protesting the thing which keeps the alive!

What is an example of an excellent advertising campaign is also an example of how easily people can be persuaded to a falsehood.

As proposed, the "Public Option" would increase competition and lower costs to ALL of the insured. How could anybody be against that? Without the billions spent in false advertising, no one but the affected companies would object. They point to government waste and false claims. It is true that health insurance companies don't have comparable waste because excess money is siphoned off to pay their executives and investors. So what if it could have been used to bring down premiums or provide better care. The purpose of the health insurance industry is to generate profit, not provide health care. In fact, every time they deny a claim, exclude treatment because of a preexisting condition, or reduce payments to actual providers, they increase their bottom line.

The best case scenario for a health insurance company would be for its insured never to get sick and if they did, to die quickly. That is their ideal business model and what they have convinced some of us is democracy.

It depends what you think of as a democracy. The original "democracy" was in Greece I believe where each free male citizen was able to vote on all aspects of the governance of the society (thus excluding women and slaves - so we are better than that - but only in the last 100 years). If you define it as a system where the majority of people are content to let their representatives screw them for their own benefit, then most western countries can be said to have democratic systems, though the people in the UK and France and the former Soviet bloc countries have overturned their elected masters in recent years.

I believe it is a democracy, despite the fact that underlies the oposing possibility, we still have all of the prerequsites that label us as a democracy, and one that i am proud to b a par of.