Aristotle was right

“In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme.”

--- Aristotle

When I told a friend what Aristotle said years ago, she thought that he was crazy. Doesn't the rich have advantages over the poor? The rich can afford the best education for their children and the best healthcare. Its true that an individual rich person has more advantages than an individual poor.

But collectively in a democracy, the poor has more political power simply because there are more of them as what Aristotle said. I also pointed this out in my earlier articles, "Democracy needs a Reformation" and "Democracy and the Welfare State".

The result is that votrepreneurs (politicians) promise to tranfer income in order the buy their votes. That is why the Reagan and Gingrich revolution has failed. Government spending during the years when Republicans were in charge of both Houses of Congress accelerated. This sounds strange because Republicans have been traditionally the party of the small government.

But on closer look, its not so strange. Republicans could only gain control of Congress because they made promises to spend and transfer income. Thus was born Bush's compassionate conservatism. They spent money and cut taxes at the same time, resulitng in historical record deficits.

So long as the one man one vote system is in place, America is on the slippery road down to a Socialist state. Its a matter of time.

What can be done to reform the system? One easy way is to allow only taxpayers to vote. Those that take from the nation or worse damage it should not be allowed to vote. I am referring to those on welfare and those in prison for a serious crime. Don't forget that America's Founding Fathers initially allowed only those with property to vote.

These were the ones who paid most of the taxes and the best educated in American society in their day. Had they not done this, American democracy may have died in its infancy. But I don't recommend this because it would disenfranchise millions of voters. It also won't fly.

Another way is as I proposed in "Democracy needs a Reformation", we allow voters to buy and sell votes. In this case, nobody is deprived of their vote. Instead, they have acquired a new right which they did not have before - the right to sell (or buy) their vote to another voter.

There will still be wealth transfer from richer to poorer voters but without going through the noxious middleman - the votrepreneur. This will stop these salesmen from buying votes with other people's money.