A Shocking Number Of Americans Are Willing To Trade Their Democracy For A Plutocracy

(The image on the left is from the web page Institut Neo Socratique.)

Venture capitalist (and rich jerk) Tom Perkins recently popped off and said the citizens of the United States that don't pay taxes shouldn't be allowed to vote in our elections. That told me right away that this was a person who did not believe in democracy. He thought the rich should be the only people with a voice in government, and that is not democracy -- that is plutocracy (rule by a wealthy class).

He also came up with another idea that was just as ridiculous -- that votes should be apportioned according to the amount of taxes paid (with the person paying the most getting the largest number of votes). Again, this is a plutocracy instead of a democracy -- because it would give the rich a larger voice in who gets elected.

The simplest definition of democracy is one citizen, one vote -- with the vote of any citizen (rich or poor) counting the same as the vote of any other citizen. The further one departs from that ideal, the further they get from democracy.

But that is not the only thing wrong with Perkins' silly idea. The fact is that everyone pays taxes. Even those citizens who don't have a large enough income to pay income taxes, still pay a significant amount of their paltry income in taxes. They pay property taxes (even if they rent), sales taxes, license & other fees (which are taxes whether you call them that or not) -- and because they pay these taxes, they should be able to have a voice (through the ballot box) in the government that is levying these taxes on them.

Right-wing Republicans have been engaging in a propaganda war over taxes, labeling those who work for low wages (and therefore pay no income tax) as "takers" -- completely and conveniently ignoring all the other taxes these people pay. They are trying to sell the false notion that these people (most of whom work hard at full-time jobs) are lazy and just living off of government handouts paid for by the rich taxpayers. It is a lie, but they have convinced a lot of ignorant people that it is true.

How many people are ignorant enough to believe the GOP lie (and are therefore willing to trade in their democracy for a plutocracy)? A shockingly high number of people! The folks who do the YouGov Poll decided to find out how many people would be willing to go along with Perkins' voting ban. Their survey was conducted on February 14th and 15th of a nationwide sample of 1,000 adults (and has a margin of error of between 3 and 4 points). The first chart shows the percentage of people who would be willing to deny the right to vote to their fellow citizens because they don't pay taxes (assuming they think only of income taxes).

That's unbelievable to anyone who supports a democratic style of government. Slightly more than a third of the population (34%) think it would be acceptable to deny the vote to the poor and to low-wage workers. For these people, the concepts of democracy, equal rights, and justice have no meaning.

Then they surveyed on Perkins' second idea -- that the number of votes a person should get ought to be based on the amount of taxes they pay (again assuming we are talking about income taxes). But a very interesting thing happens when this question is asked -- the percentages go way down. It seems that many of those who would deny the right to vote to the poor and low-wage workers, don't like the idea that someone else might get more votes than they would get. In short, they are not willing to give up what they are willing to deny to others -- an equal vote.