In fact, the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy (or Haudenosaunee) have been practicing for some 800 years a brand of democracy that like inspired the still fledgling U.S. democracy.

Here's one description : from a 1987 article, "The Great Law of Peace: New World Roots of American Democracy," by David Yarrow.

By the time the Declaration of Independence was signed, the Iroquois had practiced their own egalitarian government for hundreds of years. The Iroquois reputation for diplomacy and eloquence reveals they had securely evolved a sophisticated political system founded on reason, not on mere power.

...The Founding Fathers found their best working model for their new government, not in the writings of Europeans, but through their direct contact with the Iroquois League; for the Great Law of Peace provided both model and incentive to transform thirteen separate colonies into the United States.

For those seeking a more mainstream info source, here's something similar from a PBS Net posting

I think elements of the idea of freedom of religion comes out of the Indians. I think the idea of free speech as a necessary element of public discourse comes from the Indians.

I'm fairly certain that the structure of the United States government descends from a
confederacy.

First it had a monarchy, then it had articles of confederation which was a confederacy. And now we have the federal sort of representative government idea. But the intermediate one, the American confederacy, had to be influenced by the Indians.

I don't think it's an accident that the first proposal for a government for the colonies looks
strikingly like the structure of the Confederacy of the Six Nations of the Iroquois, even
down to the number of representatives and what their powers and limitations would be
and all that.

It's impossible to imagine that all of those could be coincidences. It seems as though the Americans were watching, especially Benjamin Franklin, who took a big interest in the Indians. -- John Mohawk, Ph.D.

So maybe that's why the oligarchs can't get it right; it always was a foreign concept to them.

Maybe they should check out the following Web site:

An excerpt:

Haudenosaunee means People Building a Long House. That Long House is a way of life where the many native nations live in peace under one common law.

We are the first United Nations in this land and operate under the oldest continualy-operating form of government, called the Grand Council of the Haudenosaunee.

Something from the same Web site for the oligarchs to consider:

The Great Law is like a Great White Mat of Law upon which the Chiefs sit as they deliberate on the affairs of the nations. Burning before the assembled chiefs is the council fire, called "the great light," that never dies as long as the people believe in the Great Law. The ... council fire, considered sacred in that it purifies the words of those assembled, obligates the Chiefs to speak the truth. Also holding a council only in the daylight is another cultural mechanism to assure clear thinking. Meetings held at night are considered inappropriate and meant for foster dissent.

The Chiefs were to use the power of their mind to reason, to figure out what was best for the welfare of the people. The three main principles of the Great Law of Peace are: Righteousness (Good News), Civil Authority (Power), and also Mind (Reason) and the welfare work. We are to view the chiefs like a circle of standing trees, supporting the Tree of Peace that grows in the middle. They help to keep it from falling over....

"Speak the truth," "reason," "best for the welfare of the people," righteousness," "peace," hey, some interesting concepts that might help prevent any democracy "from falling over."