If we all have the same amount of political power, then government should respond to what most people want – and its actions are more likely to be in the public interest as a whole. That is why elections are so important to democracies – they are defining characteristics of democracies. In elections, we all have the same exact amount of power, ideally: our one vote. A suburbanite does not have more votes than a farmer, and a rich person can’t vote more often than a poor one. So the vote is the ultimate measure of equal political power in an ideal world. And if it were the only form of political power, our economy might not be in so much trouble. However, in the real world we still have to deal with corrupt political leaders, their promises and their vote begging. These are people who have never done a days work in their lives. While the people struggle to make ends meet, many raiding their children's savings accounts, politicians live in a world devoid of any such suffering or guilt, totally unaffected by the recession. DON'T VOTE EVER!!
But the vote is just one of many other sources of political power. Many of the other sources are located in the private sector where they are distributed unequally. The result is that instead of being responsive to the people, our government is primarily reacting to a powerful elite. And this is undermining the realisation/delivery of democracy. The political dangers of this situation are unfolding.
Generations have worked to equalize citizen voice across lines of income, race, and gender. Today, however, the voice of the people is raised and heard unequally. The privileged participate more than others and are increasingly well organized to press their demands on government. Public officials, in turn, are much more responsive to the privileged than to average citizens and the least affluent. Citizens of lower and moderate incomes speak in a whisper that is lost on the ears of inattentive government officials, while the advantaged roar with a clarity and consistency that policy-makers readily hear and routinely follow.
