America prides itself on being one of the most prosperous democratically governed counties. The idea of ​​the American Dream is that all citizens have equal civil liberties and a responsive government. However, the effectiveness of democracy is threatened by growing inequality in the United States. “The prevailing view holds that economic development and modernization are the key to the continued growth of democracy” (Snider and Faris 2001; United Nations, 2011). Over the past decade, American society has experienced significant moments of increasing equality. In 1960, the civil rights movement changed the way different races were viewed. Also in the 1960s, the women's rights movement advocated for equal rights between the sexes. These two changes granted all citizens the same political and economic rights that constitute the cornerstone of democracy. “As America has become equal in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, and other forms of long-standing social exclusion, it has simultaneously experienced growing income and wealth gaps” (Jacobs and al 2004). Income gaps have not only widened between the poor and the rest of society, but also between the rich and the middle and working class. The middle class is now shrinking. “Wealth and income disparities have recently increased more sharply in the United States than in Canada, France, Germany, Italy and many other advanced industrial democracies” (Jacobs et al 2004). “The influential work of Putnam (1993, 2000), for example, suggests that a widespread decline in social capital in the Western world could undermine democratic institutions. Similarly, other data indicate that voter turnout has declined significantly in Western countries in recent decades (Franklin 2004). » This...... middle of article ......versal of Brown v. Board of Education (New York: New Press, 1996).•Przeworski, Adam. 1991. Democracy and the market. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. •Putnam, Robert. 1993. Making Democracy Work. Princeton: Princeton University Press. •Putnam, Robert. 2000. Bowling Alone: ​​The Collapse and Rebirth of American Community. New York: Simon and Schuster. •Snider, Erin A. and David M. Faris. 2011. “The Arab Spring: Promoting American Democracy in Egypt,” Middle East Policy, 18(3): 49-62. •United Nations. 2011. United Nations Development Program. Arab states have empowered lives. Resilient nations. <>.•Weakliem, David L., Andersen, Robert and Heath, Anthony F. “Directing power? A Comparative Study of Public Opinion and Income Distribution” (Storrs, CT: Department of Sociology, University of Connecticut, 2003) pp.. 47-48;