Lest Voting Also Become Theft

A Polemic on Inequality and the Justice of Surplus Voting

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12420072
AutoresSean Noah Walsh (Capital University, Columbus, OH, USA, autor correspondente), Arielle Kay Johnson (Capital University, Columbus, OH, USA)
Ano2016
Volume69
Fascículo4
Páginas667-677
Data de publicação2016-07-22
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoPolitical Research Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1065-9129 • E-ISSN: 1938-274X
EditoraSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1065912916658129
OpenAlexW2490390013
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas9

Along with inequality in wealth, politics is increasingly divided between a very small percentage who can afford access and the vast majority who are effectively marginalized. In 2014, billionaire Tom Perkins essentially proposed eliminating that last trace of fairness by arguing that one ought to be able to purchase as many votes as he or she could afford. Ostensibly, one million dollars would buy one million votes. Given the current state of inequality, we concur that “one person, one vote” is no longer sensible. However, following from the political philosophy of Pierre Proudhon, we take the position that “property is theft.” Accordingly, the possession of wealth, far from being a source of increased rights, is exactly what disqualifies an individual from supernumerary votes. Instead, drawing upon Proudhon’s views, and those of other nineteenth-century anarchists, we argue that the poorest in society, those who have the least property and have therefore committed the least theft, ought to have a surplus of votes. Using anarchism as a framework for critique within the parameters of existing politics, we will argue that as wealth declines, individuals ought to be bestowed with additional votes as compensation

Economics · Inequality · Law and economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Position (finance · Possession (linguistics · Property (philosophy · Voting · Anarchism and Radical Politics · Law · Political Economy and Marxism · Political Philosophy and Ethics