Lessening the Wealth Gap, Saving Democracy

The textbook talks greatly about the affects of the population on democracy. The United States is home to over 300 million people, meaning that to run this government there are a lot of people to try and satisfy. A main reason that there is a struggle to govern with ease is because America has one of the largest wealth gaps in the world. The top 1% of the population owns more of the nations wealth than the entire bottom half of the population combined. The wealth gap in our country is driving the effectiveness of democracy down.

Economic inequality in the United States creates issues not only politically, but socially as well. The political problems that arise from the inequality start with a corrupt government body. Many large corporations and wealthy individuals lend money to U.S. officials allowing the lenders to ultimately influence these members on what they want accomplished in Congress. This means that the wealthy can basically control the government, which is not how we want the representative democracy to run. The gap also causes political polarization, making it nearly impossible to support both extremes of the parties. As stated in an article from Psychology Today, higher economic inequality results in lower political interest (Williams). Less people are voting and participating in local events because they are unsatisfied with how they are treated and do not think their vote will matter.

The social issues with the large wealth gap are what cause the political problems to occur. This economy does seem to be growing; however the only people experiencing this growth are the upper class. The middle class has been stagnant, and the lower class is getting left behind. The tax burden is truly left on the middle class making it harder for those people to try and increase their wealth. One last major social issue the inequality causes is the simple unhappiness of the American people. Sure there are some people loving life because they have more money than imaginable, however the majority is unsatisfied because they are struggling to even put food on their table.

Our country has too large of a poor population, and the government is not doing much to support them. As we talked about in class, the government set the poverty line for one person at only $11,000 per year, and only $22,000 for two people. The fact that they believe people can live off of that is far-stretched. The government, although I would not say I want them too involved, must step up and help solve this gap. This problem is one that the states would not be able to do on their own. The federal government could start by telling the states to raise minimum wage in order to help the lowest percentile of people. If they were to do that, they should also work on the unemployment rate by investing in jobs in infrastructure. There is always work to be done when speaking about renewable energy. These two changes would not fix the problem but it would be a start, and we need some change in order to hold the integrity of democracy in the United States.

Williams, Ray. “Why Income Inequality Threatens Democracy.” Psychology Today. August 12, 2015. Accessed September 24, 2017. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201508/why-income-inequality-threatens-democracy.

Esteban Lara says:

September 27, 2017 at 9:03 pm

I find your view on this issue very well founded, and at the same time very relevant to modern society. I do think that there is a very large issue in this country and an ongoing debate over what the taxes should be and how they should be distributed to make it more reasonable to people in the lower classes but at the same time, remain fair to those in the upper ones. On one hand, one can argue that by allowing the upper classes to have ample opportunities to generate income, they will do so, resulting in the creation of more jobs. The problem with being to lenient is that it leads to a lot of corruption, as you stated in your essay. On the other hand, the government can step in and create those jobs necessary to lower the rate of unemployment by utilizing the tax money taken from the upper class. It’s certainly a difficult subject and one that sparks much debate but I do agree with you that the gap must be fixed (or at least made smaller) in order to give more opportunity to people who have a hard time escaping poverty and to take away the opportunity for the rich to influence politics as much as they do.

Adam Samee says:

September 27, 2017 at 11:57 pm

I think your point on renewable energy is a great observation, but an interesting proposal. By lowering the costs of living the American government can use low amounts of tax dollars for these to be installed in low income areas. A problem with that would be the fact that the other classes, especially middle and upper, would need to receive the same benefits. Perhaps they could receive discounts on their power in an equivalent amount. This solution would also move the United States towards being green and moving towards cleaner energy solutions. This move would influence democratic voting in the low income areas. This would in turn create political awareness for these people. This move could potentially influecne the poll turnout and increase the strength of our American popular sovereignty.