Democracy Vs. Economic Inequality - 1751 Words

Democracy vs Inequality Over the past couple of generations, democracy has found a way to coexist with great increases in economic inequality in the United States. Also, this inequality have predominately been more beneficial to the top one percent. The income increase for the top one percent is at the highest level it has ever been at since the eve of the great depression. This top one percent groups are small enough for the economic inequality to be held in check. Here are four possible reasons to review over why there has been no counterbalance for the rising inequality in the US: 1. An Ideological shift. 2. Campaign Contributions. 3. Political institutions and the reactions to inequality 4. Politics and Reacting to Inequality There could be a number more of reasons to why the mass inequality is still rising but these are some of the core reasons and impacts it has had on the democracy of the United States. An Ideological Shift Since about 1980, the political system has polarized a gap in ideology between the Democrat and Republican Parties has been broadening while moderates vanish from Congress. Republicans enjoy their increase in electoral success, and the Democratic control of the federal government was breaking. Republicans had been able to hold presidency for twenty years and at least one house of Congress for twenty-two years. There is one data source that is greatly used for the liberal conservative positions of Congress, called DW-NOMINATE scores. These scoresShow MoreRelatedWho Stole The American Dream?756 Words   |  4 PagesDream? Hedrick Smith paints a clear and accessible but grim portrait of how economics, politics, power, and democracy have vastly changed in the United States. I agree with Smith that wealth and power inequality are extremely harmful. That a few individuals have prospered at the expense of the many is extremely unethical and unjust. I appreciate his cri tique of the current system, and historical perspective regarding how democracy has been systematically and intentionally eroded by corporate interestsRead MoreRed, White, and Black Essay1123 Words   |  5 PagesThe complexities of race effected the Jacksonian era through the shrewdness of the white man’s desires for economic expansion. Democracy, during its infancy in early nineteenth century America, considered all ‘people’ as equals. However, this designation of ‘people’ excluded African and Native Americans. The institution of slavery was a return investment venture for southern planters in their greed for the production of more staple crops. Many white Americans led extravagant lifestyles from the largeRead MoreCase Analysis : V. Valeo817 Words   |  4 Pages37. Buckley v. Valeo: Buckley v. Valeo was a court case where the judges held limits on how much could be spend on elections. This was unconstitutional to what the count case came out to be 38. Hard vs. Soft political contributions: Pg. 127-129 A hard contribution is when you give $5,000 to anyone candidate. Whereas soft contributions are when you are able to give as much money as you want. 39. Counter majoritarian electoral outcomes: Counter majoritarian is a problem with the judicial reviewRead MoreThe Issue Of The United States Charter Of Rights And Freedoms1648 Words   |  7 PagesOur society has achieved a foundational equilibrium within the problems arising from inequalities. With great lengths and through major strides, inequality has been frequently addressed in order to be rectified substantially. The common notion that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Charter), protects the equalities of each and every individual, through state action, whether through judicial, legislative or executive levels has been greatly debated amongst policy makers, law enforcers and lawRead MoreWhy Inequality Matters, For Non Economists1672 Words   |  7 PagesGrasping the Problem: Why Inequality Matters, for Non-economists Before analyzing Piketty’s global tax on wealth, we must understand the problem Piketty is trying to solve. The central economic dilemma revealed by Piketty’s research is that greater returns (r) on capital investments are outpacing the overall economic growth rate (g), succinctly noted in the form r g, and the imbalance is driving wealth inequality. Thus once capital-rich individuals acquire (often through inheritance) large enoughRead MoreRevisionist Socialism1088 Words   |  5 Pagesit? Revisionist socialism seeks to reform or tame capitalism rather than abolish it. †¨It seeks to reconcile socialism with capitalism. It seeks social justice in the sense of narrowing the economic and social inequalities (to varying degrees) within capitalism through welfare and redistribution. Social democracy is the most obvious example of revisionist socialism. Revisionists are invariably parliamentary, not revolutionary, socialists. Bernstien Beginning in the late 1890s a diverse group ofRead MoreGlobalization and the Nation State Essay1633 Words   |  7 PagesGlobalization Ââ€" Struggles of the Nation-State and Issues of Equality Economic growth in globalization is often due to rapid technological advancements and changes in the gathering of information and communications. Globalization has always existed but todays globalization has been a much more rapid and intense process than in the past. The question here is whether todays globalization weakens the nation state and whether or not it undermines national control over the economy. We are trying toRead MoreEquity and Equality1007 Words   |  5 PagesYoussef Haddad Professor Black English 1101 9 Nov 2013 Equality Vs. Equity: People and The Law Throughout the history of mankind and specially in modern times, many struggles emerged from people’s suppressed anger and hatred of the feudalism and the ruling monopolistic powers, and in their effort to create a system most suitable to their wants and desires and what they take as â€Å"values† and â€Å"rights† they stumbled on what is to this very day one of the most important andRead MoreAmerica s Form Of Government1364 Words   |  6 PagesAmerica s form of government is not that obvious anymore, nevertheless, one thing is for sure; it is definitely making the idea of democracy, an obscure, abstract version of itself. A Democratic government provides every citizen of legal age with the free and equal right to play a role in a system that elects representatives of the population. It is done so by the majority of people’s votes, which promise to meet their will. America gives the impression to be headed in the orientation of PlutocracyRead MoreA Discussion Of Campaign Finance Regulation1466 Words   |  6 PagesExpenditures can be used to broadcast, advertise, and lobby particular opinions, and candidates with more access to economic resources can flood the media with messages of their preference. In these cases, Christiano is concerned that economic inequality will be translated into political inequality, and he argues that campaign expenditures should be regulated in order to limit this â€Å"great inequality of opportunity for influencing the political agenda† (Christiano 4). The most obvious criticism of Christiano’s