2016 is a presidential election year in the United States, and although Election Day itself is still nearly two years away (I year, 8 months, 19 days to be precise) the pre-race race has already started. Hillary Clinton, of course, is the odds-on favorite for the Democratic nomination. The Republican side is wide open, and will be decided through a series of televised debates and impromptu media moments interspersed with occasional primary voting; this process will ruin occupy most of the first six months of 2016.
If you were born in the United States chances are someone has told you that you could be president one day. But while that is technically true (the Constitution stipulates only that the president must be a natural-born American citizen 35 years of age), the reality is that there are really only a tiny number of people, maybe two or three dozen, who have a realistic shot at becoming president. For one thing, you need the support of one of the two major parties, which is a pretty high bar. Birth helps too, quite a lot.
Consider: The most likely nominees of their respective parties, Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush, both come from wealthy, established political families boasting at least one former president. Two more serious contenders, Rand Paul and Mitt Romney, are also scions of political families. Think about that. Of the infinitesimally small number of Americans alive today who have an actual, realistic shot of becoming president, at least four come from prominent political families. And all of them are rich.
Is it still democracy if we're only choosing from among a wealthy, privileged elite? That sounds more like aristocracy to me.