Theorists of democracy and democratic institutions often discuss their subject matter as if it existed in a vacuum, as if it existed in an ideal world. We think of our capitalist democracy as the most superior system in the world, but this should not blind us to the problems involved in such a system, to its failures, and to forces it may unleash that can be destructive or that can lead to unintended and unwanted outcomes. Such outcomes are made apparent in the non-fiction work by Juliet B. Schor (1991) concerning the work ethic as practiced in America today and in the novel by Tom Wolfe (1987) which lays bare the underlying political structures and forces in New York City today, and by extension in America at large. These works show where there are tears in the fabric of our democracy, tears placed there by an inherent tension between democracy and capitalism. Many find this anomalous because they equate the two directly, but the fact that they are bound together in the system we have created does not mean they do not strain against one another in various ways and so test the system they define.
In his novel The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987) brings to fiction the same reporter's eye that served him as a journalist over a long career. An examination of the novel shows that there is no human hero and no human villain, but there is both a hero and a villain of a different sort. The hero is New York City itself, which is a hero in the sense of being the protagonist of the novel rather than of being a shining example to others or a model of courage. The villain is what is often referred to derisively as The System, which in this case includes the government, the social structure, the racial and class divisions in the city, and especially the legal system.
The closest thing to a human hero in the novel is Sherman McCoy, and he truly has feet of clay. He does become more radicalized as the novel progresses, but h...