>and those who don't will vote to take others money for themselves.
The voting population is way too big for any meaningful bribe to be offered to a voter. Lets be honest, rich people work that system, voters only vote for candidates picked by rich people. The system is flawed and abusable... but only by rich people.
>The voting population is way too big for any meaningful bribe to be offered to a voter.
It's not specifically a bribe. It's policy designed to take money from those who earn more and give their money to those who earn less. In order for politicians to be elected they need to gain a majority vote, in order to get that vote they need to offer policies which claim to aid to largest number of people.
This already exists, in a variety of different forms.
>The system is flawed and abusable... but only by rich people.
> in order to get that vote they need to offer policies which claim to aid to largest number of people.
This isn't a bribe. You describe democracy working as it should. Policies are SUPPOSE to be made to aid the largest number of people. This is the point. In societies where the system works, rich minorities often feel this is unfair when they get taxed to hell. (It's not, and currently in our society, the rich are taxed less than poor people)
The system as it exists today does not benefit the majority. It benefits the elite. The elite choose who gets elected, by choosing who has necessary money to campaign. At the end of the day the politician owes more allegiance to the person who funded his campaign then the people who voted for him. The people live with it because said elected official utilizes charisma, complexity and politics to disguise the true nature of many things.
>Let's assume that's the case. What should we do?
I would suggest laws to prevent rich people from having too much influence on campaign funding. Ironically, I need to be rich to make that happen, and by then I'd probably be in a position where I have no desire to harm myself.
Thus when wealth inequality gets too extreme there's only one inevitable solution: Violence. Other than that it's something we have to live with, as wealth inequality is a feature of capitalism.
>This isn't a bribe. You describe democracy working as it should. Policies are SUPPOSE to be made to aid the largest number of people. This is the point. In societies where the system works, rich minorities often feel this is unfair when they get taxed to hell. (It's not, and currently in our society, the rich are taxed less than poor people)
The system as it exists today does not benefit the majority. It benefits the elite. The elite choose who gets elected, by choosing who has necessary money to campaign. At the end of the day the politician owes more allegiance to the person who funded his campaign then the people who voted for him. The people live with it because said elected official utilizes charisma, complexity and politics to disguise the true nature of many things.
Policies aid the majority, they let the 51 rule the 49.
Again let's assume you're right, the elite choose who are elected and can make the rules. Why are they being taxed? Why can't they use their influence so they get to keep their entire income?
>I would suggest laws to prevent rich people from having too much influence on campaign funding. Ironically, I need to be rich to make that happen, and by then I'd probably be in a position where I have no desire to harm myself.
Thus when wealth inequality gets too extreme there's only one inevitable solution: Violence. Other than that it's something we have to live with, as wealth inequality is a feature of capitalism.
So there are laws which supposedly benefit the rich and now you want to make more laws to fix the fact that the laws benefit the rich? You see the problem here?
>Policies aid the majority, they let the 51 rule the 49.
The people who control most of the world's wealth (over 50% of it) are equivalent to (or less than) 1% of the population. That 1% is what abuses the system. It's not 51 vs 49. It's the 99% vs. 1%.
That is not to say that there are no problems with the 51 vs 49, it's just a different set of problems entirely distinct and extremely lower in severity from the problem of rich people abusing the democratic system. In short the 51 vs the 49 percent is more of an acknowledged minor disadvantage of democracy rather than the unexpected critical flaw I describe above.
>Again let's assume you're right, the elite choose who are elected and can make the rules. Why are they being taxed? Why can't they use their influence so they get to keep their entire income?
Because you are illustrating an extreme that isn't the reality. The rich can't abuse the system to the point where it becomes a fascist empire. In the end it's still a democracy, and structurally there are certain limits to how far anyone can twist that concept.
The rich abuse the system to the point where they have MORE power, not ultimate power. To do so would ruin the economy structurally. They need laborers to spend and work in order to keep their status. All people, the kings and emperors included, are fully aware of the violent and economic repercussions when you only tax poor people. The rich therefore can't completely eliminate their taxes, instead they use complexities to disguise their alternative tax advantages. The majority know the term as "tax loopholes."
>So there are laws which supposedly benefit the rich and now you want to make more laws to fix the fact that the laws benefit the rich? You see the problem here?
Yes I do see the problem. More laws equals greater complexity, and a system with too much redundancy. Perhaps replacing existing laws are a better alternative, but that is not how our system works. Other than that there is no problem.
No, it occurs because there is a system which can be abused. A system which is open to abuse can and will be abused.