Political Equality not Economic Equality

Income gap.  Wealth inequality. 1% versus the 99%.  The facts are not disputed, even by conservative commentators.  Today’s distribution of wealth is as lopsided as ever, comparable only to the “Gilded Age” and the “Roaring 20s.”  Both previous eras of inequality had political parallels to today: rising debt, over leveraged speculation, skepticism of government, reduction of taxes, and ideological politics.[1] And, sadly, both those eras of inequality were followed by market collapse, economic depression, and social unrest.

As problematic as these trends seem, economic inequality should not be the target of OWS and related political movements.  Americans tolerate it.  We don’t begrudge success.  In fact we idolize it.  We do, however, insist on equal opportunity, a level playing field, so that anyone with talent, discipline, and luck might also strike it rich.  That is why politics aimed at income redistribution and class warfare are unlikely to get much traction, and even less likely to influence policy.

But, when economic inequality translates into political inequality, then we have justification for serious concern and major political change.  And, sadly, that is our situation. Larry Bartels, in Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age, convincingly documents that the current inequality of wealth has transformed our government in ways that favor the rich and concentrated sources of wealth.  The system is no longer fair.  Equal opportunity does not exist. The playing field is tilted, a lot.  As a result, wealth inequalities are not the greatest challenges we face, but rather the “pervasive, corrosive effects on political representation and policy making” influenced by wealth inequality that are pushing us along a downward spiral that eventually will call into question the democratic character of America.[2]

Most every adult citizen can vote in the USA.  But not every voter has equal access to wealth, knowledge, status, and political power.  So who actually governs and towards what ends?  The Tea Party and Fox News calls for smaller government are misplaced because that would just strengthen the grip of those with their hands on policy levers.  We don’t need less government instead we need better government.  We need more democracy to reverse the downward spiral to oligarchy.