Americans are divided on what we want: the sovereign Republic bequeathed to us, along with liberty and our constitutional form of representative government, or an open-borders one-world socialist "utopia."  Thanks to the radical left's long march through the institutions – especially influential in our public schools and colleges – many young people have eagerly embraced socialism or even communism.

But there is one thing I believe we can all agree on: we don't want an oligarchy.

Here's the rub: we don't know what an oligarchy looks like up close.  Let me give you a few examples.

Back in the summer of 2016, there was an item in a local California newspaper about an odd occurrence in the tiny, upscale town of St. Helena.  A big, shiny black SUV swooped across both lanes of traffic, flashing red and blue lights in both its front and rear windows, and then parked in a red curb-fire hydrant zone in front of a store named Footcandy.  Now, Footcandy sells $1,000 shoes and is patronized by celebrities like Oprah.  The SUV driver opened the door for his passenger and escorted her to the pricey shoe store.  Who got this regal treatment on a shopping expedition?  Former speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Say what you will about $1,000 shoes; it is a fact that We the Taxpayers paid for her limo and security chauffeur, and we have bestowed upon her and her ilk the sense of entitlement that goes along with such unearned largesse.

A police officer hollered at the SUV driver, who'd made an illegal cross-traffic U-turn and parked in a red zone – for Nancy's convenience, no doubt – but, as St. Helena's police chief, Bill Imboden, later confirmed, he could do nothing because the driver could claim "dignitary protection," which allows for violation of some state and local laws.  Turns out Pelosi frequents St. Helena and frequently violates its traffic laws, as she and her husband own a large winery nearby.  Politics has been very good to Nancy.  In fact, since she has apparently profited from some insider trading deals, Congress dubbed a proposal to prevent a particular form of this practice – special access to IPOs by its members – the Pelosi Provision.

Speaking of insider trading, that seems to be quite a popular sport for those in Congress, though you and I would be serving jail time for such shenanigans.  It turns out that Congress, highly skilled at looking after number one, made it legal for its members to profit from inside information, leading to many of our erstwhile middle class representatives suddenly becoming multimillionaires.  Welcome to the American aristocracy and its Politburo privileges.  Obamacare for you, superior medical plan for them.  No wonder Nancy feels so entitled – the laws don't apply to her.

Here's another case in point, described by Paul Nehlen in his book Wage the Battle.

Nehlen escorted a group of Angel Mothers – each of whom had lost a child in a crime committed by an illegal alien – to the walled mansion of  speaker of the House Paul Ryan.  The mothers wore shirts emblazoned with pictures of their slain children.  They conducted a respectful protest, with Nehlen pointing out the hypocrisy of Paul Ryan's wall around his property and his open borders policy.

Ryan would not step outside his mansion, refusing to engage with these people he represents.  But as Nehlen and the women were leaving, Ryan finally emerged from the house, and the mothers approached him to hand him a letter.  What did the speaker do?  Did he graciously accept the letter?  Did he listen to the women?  Not for a moment.  Ryan pretended they didn't exist.  Ignoring them completely, he hopped into another of those big, shiny black SUVs with the security chauffeur and sped off.  No time for the peasants who pay for it all, and who've lost children as a result of his open-borders agenda.

These are two small examples of what oligarchy looks like up close.

What does it look like writ large?

In two words: Hillary Clinton.

The issue is not just that while secretary of state, Hillary used a private server – it's that she used it to conceal the fact that she was leveraging her State Department role to conduct pay-for-play deals to funnel money into the Clinton Foundation.  Among her dirty deals, she managed to finagle selling 25% of our uranium to, of all people, the Russians.

The very fact that both the Obama administration and the Trump administration have refused to prosecute Hillary for her many egregious high crimes, possibly including treason, is the unmistakable mark of the oligarch – those mighty elites who are above the law.

We can't have America – a nation of individuals all equal under the law – and have an oligarchy at the same time.  It's one or the other.

Many people say socialism and communism don't work.  I say they work perfectly.  They work to enrich a small, privileged oligarchy by exploiting and enslaving the masses.  That was the real plan all along.  And I'll wager that not even the most idealistic social justice warriors would champion the "socialist paradise" if they understood its bleak reality.