re: the people getting by.
Indeed,....they are at the lower levels of Maslow’s needs and don’t have the time, energy, or money to read Dennis Prager or Solzhenitsyn.
Thanks to government schooling few Americans read well enough to even begin to tackle the works of Prager or Solzhenitsyn
Kings do it.
Communists do it. The elite class wasn't poor. LOL
Capitalists do it. The US is a country where the rich get to play monopoly but make and change the rules to suit them as the game is played.
Theocracies do it, may it be the Catholic Church in the past or in Islam where you have a few powerful and very wealthy Imams.
The idea is how much can you squeeze the people while a small opulent elite walks away with the fruits of labor living in palaces.
The difference is that at least in a capitalist system, if government is small, you can have a democratic process, somewhat neutral courts, and if an economy is going well and there is a demand for labor, labor a commodity itself can see it's value rise and benefit. Capitalism isn't particularly ethical or moral, but it does allow for the coexistence of a democratic process and the sharing of wealth if the economy prospers and labor is in demand.