The author makes the case that there is a direct connection between the loss of community and the loss of democracy. The thesis presented here represents a culmination of the points made throughout the book, but further focuses on the threats to democracy, positing that political structures, processes and power are directly derived from the dominant economy. If the economy is decentralized, with meaningful economic tiers operating at the local, regional and national level, then political power will be likewise decentralized. But as our economy has become more centralized and global, so has political power become more centralized and attenuated from the average citizen, who has now made the transition from public citizen to private consumer of government and private services, pronouncements of the glories of “democracy and free markets,” notwithstanding.