… Any free political system gives extra influence to those who have intense preferences. The difficulty is making sure differences in influence are mostly due to preference intensity, not social and economic inequalities. Not an easy task.
Unfortunately, the US is mostly going in the wrong direction. Economic inequality has been increasing since the 1970s, especially at the very high end of the distribution. On top of that, the series of Supreme Court decisions rolling back campaign finance restrictions (most famously Citizens United) makes it much easier for extremely wealthy people to gain huge amounts of political influence. Unlike just a few years ago, it is now possible for one super-wealthy individual to keep a presidential candidate viable for months and finance a substantial proportion of a political party’s general election needs. CONT.
Jonathan M. Ladd (Georgetown), Mischiefs of Faction