Thesis of "The Irony of Democracy"

The thesis of “The Irony of Democracy” is the idea that despite calling ourselves a democracy, the United States is not run by the masses. We are instead govern by a handful of “elites” that are usually rich, white men. Dye bluntly states this thesis in the first sentence of the book, “Elites— not masses – govern the United States.” ( Dye, 1)