Are democracy and a free market compatible?

The tension between democracy and the market has driven history since at least the French Revolution, a tension most obvious in the U.S. which strives to be the most democratic and the most economically anarchic at the same time. The question is: Can a balance be maintained or must one win out over the other?

Is an economy that is both a free market and democratic an impossibility? Free market implies that all are free to buy and sell as they will. Even if the starting point were one of equal ownership of resources and income the outcome after a period would be one of inequality of ownership and income and an increasing tendency in this. Democracy on the other hand usually demands a sharing of resources on grounds other than income and the market. Why? Simply because people in need feel they need regardless of the economic or market choices that put them in that position of need. Thus a true democracy constantly strives to subvert market choices or limit market operations so that circumstances of need arise less rarely.

Supporters of the free market argue that any such sharing is wrong because any interference would only make matters worse, and the less tactful that all have market choices and if people are in a position of need it is their own fault. An obvious democratic counter argument to this first argument is that for those in need it couldn't be worse. A view not usually shared by those not in any great need. Further, it can be argued that not all made any market choices at all, but are rather victims of the market - those without access to income or resources, those deprived of education, etc. Finally, and most shocking to those who worship the market, not all wish to play by the market's rules, that is, there are those who would prefer not to buy or sell themselves. In a democratic society it is possible to choose not to play by the rules of a free market?

It follows from the above that for a free market to maintain itself within a democracy, those in need (real or perceived) must be constantly denied and their democratic power limited. This is clearly the case in the U.S., which is unsurprisingly the least democratic of the so-called democracies while maintaining the most unrestricted market.

In the clash of the market and democracy which will win, which should win? Who are the main supporters of a free market? Certainly those with access to resources that allow them to play from a position

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