Undated pictures provided by the US Department of Justice on January 30, 2026 as part of the Jeffrey Epstein files Photo: VCG

Jeffrey Epstein, US financier and convicted sex offender, is reportedly dead, but his ghost still haunts us.

This isn't merely a sex scandal buried in thousands of unsealed documents; it is a cold, unforgiving mirror that exposes the systemic corruption at the core of American democracy, highlighting how justice is compromised when wealth influences power. 

When money can buy anything, the promise of "one person, one vote" becomes nothing more than a carefully crafted illusion.

Accountability hasn't just failed; it has suffered systemic necrosis. It is a textbook case of the economic base determining the superstructure.

The numbers don't lie. Federal Reserve data show that by the end of 2024, the top 0.1 percent of households held 13.8 percent of the nation's wealth - a historical high - while the bottom 50 percent held a mere 2.5 percent, illustrating how extreme economic disparity erodes democratic principles. 

This extreme disparity has transcended economics, solidifying into an insurmountable class chasm. Epstein stood at the very summit of this divide. Beneath his feet, the sanctity of the law evaporated, and the mechanisms of accountability ground to a halt.

Consider the grotesque "non-prosecution agreement" of 2008. It transformed what should have been a life sentence for federal crimes into a brief 13-month stint of "work release" - effectively a paid vacation.

This was not a miscarriage of justice; it was a naked transaction of power. When a defendant wields a legal dream team, direct access to the political core, and wealth rivaling that of nations, the "independence" of a local prosecutor becomes a punchline. 

Within the American judicial system, two distinct tracks operate in plain sight: a punitive gauntlet for ordinary defendants, and a "green lane" for the ultra-wealthy. As long as the price is right, sin is exonerated, and justice is indefinitely deferred. This failure stems from a "collusion of power."

Political scientist Francis Fukuyama has argued that a modern liberal democracy combine three basic institutions: the state, rule of law, and democratic accountability. Yet the Epstein saga brutally demonstrates that, in a society fractured by extreme wealth stratification, maintaining equilibrium among the three branches of democracy is nearly impossible.

The final pillar of the institution begins to crumble when accountability is reduced to a bargaining chip among the elite. It is not that the rules have vanished; rather, they do not apply to everyone. The gatekeepers of the system are no longer consulting the rulebook - they are consulting the balance sheet.

Look at the files: high-ranking officials from both parties, titans of industry, academic luminaries. They form an airtight community of interest, sharing resources, swapping favors, and maintaining a collective silence. In this circle, no force can truly trigger accountability because everyone holds leverage over everyone else; they are all on the same boat.

Documents are unsealed, hearings are held, and the public is outraged. But then what? 

Despite Epstein's convenient "suicide" and the imprisonment of Ghislaine Maxwell, who conspired with Epstein to sexually exploit underage girls, the true protective umbrella remains unscathed. This is "performative justice"- a superficial display designed to quell public outrage through limited exposure while the true mechanisms of power remain protected and unchallenged, revealing the hollow nature of official accountability. 

It is not surgery to remove the cancer; it is political theater, ammunition for partisan mudslinging,  not the delivery of justice.

From the moment the Supreme Court equated political spending with "free speech," the purchase of power was legalized.

The Epstein case tears away the final fig leaf: In a society of extreme economic inequality, political equality is a lie. Even if an accountability mechanism exists, it will inevitably malfunction under the weight of gold. This was not a "glitch" in the democratic system; it was the inevitable result of the operating logic of American capitalism. As long as extreme wealth concentration remains unbroken, so-called democratic accountability will remain nothing more than a side dish at the banquet of the ruling class.

The author is a senior editor with the People's Daily and currently a senior fellow with the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China. dinggang@globaltimes.com.cn. Follow him on X @dinggangchina