The foundation in class inequality is in the advantage money brings in completing civil action in court that the wealthy disproportionately enjoy. The result was that the public had no way to gain redress for injuries. Hence the democratic pitch for the regulatory state, which then became a toy for the extremely rich via their tax-exempt foundations funding "the downtrodden" to bring actions advantageous to their business interests in Federal courts the general public cannot afford.
From the moment of the "ruling" in Santa Clara v. Southern Pacific Railroad granting rights equal with people to corporations under the citizenship clause of the 14th amendment, of the subsequent 307 cases brought before the SCOTUS, 19 were on behalf of people and the rest were upon behalf of corporations. "Equal protection" became protection for the wealthy. Source
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