Legally, bosses and managers have the power to silence speech and end discussions. Marianne Ayala/Insider In the last year, workers have called on their workplaces to address political issues like systemic racism. The founders of Basecamp recently shut down political talk at work, which shows how little say employees have. Businesses are structured like dictatorships, which disempowers workers, weakens democracy, and consolidates the power of bosses. Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein writes about economic life in America. This is an opinion column.