Larry Bartel's Unequal Democracy

Should every person should have an equal say in how our government is supposed to function? To my understanding our government consist of a Judicial, Executive and Legislative branches. The people in these branches are selected by elections, political parties and interest groups organized by the people. According to Dictionary.com a Democracy is “a system of government in which power is vested in the people, who rule either directly or through freely elected representatives.” So I ask again, should every person have an equal say in how our government should function? This question is answered in Larry Bartels book Unequal Democracy. He proves the conspiracy of how the U.S government favor the rich and wealthy “Unequal Democracy”. Bartel elaborates

The two major political parties are the Democrats and Republicans. These two parties have been the majority since the constitution was written. The Republican Party are commonly known for their conservative views on certain stand points. For example studies show that Republican presidents have aided the economy over the past several decades. But studies also show how Republican parties favor the rich and wealthy populations/voters. On the other hand, there are Democrats. Democrats are known for their American liberalism, so to speak. This group respectfully consist of middle and working class people, which is the majority of the U.S population. With the upper hand in numbers wouldn’t it be logical that the Democratic Party would be in favor for political ideas? The answer is no. The Republican Party has dominated the white house for several decades. This is because with the republican population around 30%, about 80% vote during elections. However the Democratic population is around 70% but only 20% vote. Why aren’t people voting? Some say there is no valuable gain to vote when one person one vote isn’t really true. People believe this because Republicans have more access to resources than Democrats because of their wealthy stature. To my understanding these resources may aid candidates with publicity and networking benefits making their candidate more dominate than others running for

Interest Groups are extensions of political parties. These groups discuss collective action problems and find solutions to these problems. However with so many people trying to find a common goal or solution to their beliefs. It is hard to find order or one major voice to propose a solution. In example an issue brought up a lot is education. Obviously the wealthy will have their children in well-developed schools and the lower classes will have their children at mediocre public schools. The curriculum may be the same but the discipline in classes are highly different. For example, a child from a low income family is usually brought up in less developed communities where their parents may not have an education that excels over the 12th grade. So school may not seem as big of a deal to them. Whereas parents that are wealthy most likely graduated from a 4 yr University with a Masters or Ph.D. Now this child has high standards to go to school and excel in their studies. The comparison between the two children is un-fair. When born into a successful family the odds are you may be successful as well. And vice versa for the poor family, if you start off poor you need to work harder in order to get your foot in the door. That is the sad truth in contemporary America. Contemporary America isn’t the same as when the founding fathers created it. Modern day political parties have evolved to Political Powers. Larry Bartel elaborates on how Politics are corrupted by money, wealth and