Political Equality and Democracy: Masses and the Select…
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Political Equality and Democracy: Masses vs the Select…
For many centuries, human beings have lived under many forms of rule: god-like rulers, tribes, kings, aristocracies, and more. Of all the systems we have tried, democracy seems to be the best one we have come up with, or at least the one that appears to work best. We defend it fiercely.
And yet, we still struggle.
There is hardly a Socrates Café meeting where we do not end up talking about Trump. That is not necessarily a bad thing, nor is it something to avoid. The uncomfortable truth is that it now affects us directly.
Can the decision of the masses really govern an entire society and create a better future? Does equality in voting truly make sense in the real world? Or should we instead be guided by a select few? Is the system we are defending actually working in the first place?
The dilemma can be stated like this:
If all votes are equal, democracy may ignore differences in knowledge.
If votes are unequal, democracy may destroy political equality itself.
WHAT IS POLITICAL EQUALITY?
1. What do we mean by political equality? What is its promise for the citizen?
2. Why is political equality important for democracy?
3. Does one person, one vote achieve political equality? I
4. Can citizens be politically equal even if they are socially and economically unequal? Which one comes first?
5. Is democracy meant to produce the wisest decisions, or the most legitimate ones?
6. If elections depend heavily on money, media power, and manipulation, are they still truly democratic?
7. Should all votes count equally if the citizens are not equally informed?
8. Is it more dangerous to have ignorant voters or unequal voting power?
9. If we reject equal voting, do we inevitably move toward elitism? If we accept equal voting how do we avoid the tyranny of the masses?
10. Why do higher levels of economic inequality often lead to lower democratic participation? Who is rejecting to vote?
11. If people still have the vote but chose not to, is political equality still alive in practice, or only on paper?
12. How can we restore the meaning of political equality beyond voting and make equal votes lead to better decisions?