Same Difference?

These times have democratized some of our human societies in the "free world" to the point of confusion. While I outwardly embrace the belief that all people are equal, I hear and see that this is not actually happening the way it should. Individual freedoms it seems are not as important as group freedoms. Groups have the power of volume, thus value in terms of their many voices in the media and funding due to their numbers. Politicians listen to those who are in groups under one title. For them, they are "votes in a bag". But special group democracies, sadly, fly in their own face. If all Men, meaning individuals,  are equal, are groups weighted beyond this tenet? If so, is it. therefore, a true democracy? Are those in the  group swayed by the group dynamic or are they truly committed to a personal, well-considered choice? And if the group in which they locate, asks for and takes more power than an individual outside the group, is it right? Is it democracy? It seems that certain groups see themselves as being above and beyond what others are and have, and expect more. They give reasons why they are "special".  Not only that, they petition from the taxpayer already burdened, to scrape the tax barrel bottom and hand over funding to their power group. I find this a confusing, and often sickening aspect of present day small "p" politics. When I hear/see media reports of huge groups of people getting their ways and successfully making big changes as to where the tax money goes and how, it concerns me. It's not because I don't agree with them, it's because I have one vote and I consider it very important. I don't vote based on what a group wants; I vote trying to weigh my personal decision based on what makes sense from where I sit and how much actual value there is in what my tax dollar gets. It may not be the popular choice that the pollsters predict, and it may not be what my neighbours think, but it is what I think and it is my right to cast my vote where I believe it should go. That is democracy. Our tax dollars are never enough and unfortunately, there are some citizens who rant that they should be funded more generously than others. If we are all "one" why should some receive special treatment?  And where does the money come from? It comes from our individual pockets, from ordinary hard-working people who earned it, not from some mysterious thing called "The Government". Everyone deserves justice and all of the other many points in our Constitution. If we are Canadian citizens, we are equal, not special. Same difference? At times, I wonder.