Since large corporations took over, a lot's truly become different. Western politicians listen to CEOs more than before while Russians and Chinese still follow their leaders. So, what's changed is the western democracy that can be bought today. This is how our world has turned over which is the challenge not to complain about but to observe and act (and post on the board) accordingly.

The era of the "golden days" that you describe (were they really so "golden"?) are long gone by, and we are facing new political challenges these days that concern all of us. Because the world is changing, our lives and working and social conditions are changing. Our main task when facing such new challenges is to decide what our answer will be to them. Complaining that the "golden days" have gone is pretty useless then.