ABSTRACT
The idea that the American political system was not egalitarian, and perhaps not even democratic, moved outside of the realm of conspiracy theory or paranoia and into mainstream political discourse. While the response to Gilens and Page's article is only anecdotal, it is nonetheless a powerful example of the resonance of the idea of elite dominance within the American public sphere. Questions of accuracy notwithstanding, a sufficient portion of the populace accept elite dominance as real enough to think about and discuss in the same manner as other political issues. The public's capacity to align with specific political actors is highly significant for understanding the strategic nature of elite competition. According to Lippmann, this passivity exists even in the presence of abuse of political power; the public will wait for a challenge from a competing elite actor to express its grievances through alignment.
