Over the course of a longish life (now approaching 70), I've seen a couple of changes that seem to me to be important and relevant.
When I was growing up, there were entire groups of people who couldn't be bought at any price. Not all of them, but the vast majority of police, doctors, teachers, bank managers, priests, local and national politicians, army officers, senior civil servants, directors of major companies... Nowadays everyone seems to be on the take, and the word "probity" has disappeared from the dictionary.
Allied with that, the growth of a "political" class. I've put "political" in quotes because they aren't political in the traditional sense. They aren't driven by any burning ideals - they're in politics for power and money, for themselves and the rest of the class. Take a look at how many millionaires there are in both UK houses of parliament, in all parties. Likewise the US Congress and Senate. A lot of them were wealthy before they were elected, but most are much richer now, and more than can be explained by the pay for the job.
Most people aren't stupid. They've noticed all this, and wonder where their democracy has gone. What seems to be happening is that they're voting against the people who think they own them. Such votes usually aren't sensible, but they're saying "years of voting responsibly has given us this - let's try something different."
I have to admit that I gave in to the urge once, and voted for
RRS Boaty McBoatface.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/17/boaty-mcboatface-wins-poll-to-name-polar-research-vesselNaturally, the Owners didn't allow the decision to stand, but it was good fun while it lasted!
Ebbw Vale voted Brexit https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/25/view-wales-town-showered-eu-cash-votes-leave-ebbw-valeeven though they're had more EU inward investment than just about anywhere and have almost no immigrants to worry about. As one of them said, "we gave David Cameron a good kicking.”
Things are eventually going to turn around. Whether it'll be soon enough to save our civilisation, who knows? If not, maybe we're not worth saving. A meme I've noticed recently: people saying "I have something that most of the richest people in the world don't have, and can never have: I have ENOUGH!" If enough people start thinking that way, maybe we'll start to give our respect to those who are part of the solution, not those who are most of the problem.