If We The People were proficient readers, we could use democratic institutions such as voting to excersize power.

In such a nation, there would still be an Establishment. But that Establishment would not be Evil, because We The People would completely control it. Today, the vote gives power like an infant's pacifier gives milk. This is mainly because We The People are functionally illiterate. Without literacy, government "of the People, by the People, and for the People" cannot exist. Any appearance to the contrary is an illusion, a charade that, like a baby's pacifier, is designed, not to nourish you, but merely to keep you from crying.