Political Equality Vs Economic Inequality

Through many centuries, equality has been a key feature in the United States. The definition of equality holds many ambiguities. There are various forms of equality and inequality worth discussing. In the United States, with a free-market trade, economic inequality has often been favored by America citizens rather than political inequality. Progressively, the inequality engrained in society over the last three decades helps explain why Americans prefer economic rather than political inequality. There is a conflict between economic inequality and political equality to the extent that the wealthy population influences the American political system more than people with less money and fewer connections due to the poor’s lack of political efficacy, …show more content…
This poses many conflicts surrounding the makeup of a democratic society. The United States is made up of individualists who have recognized that the “American Dream” is a goal worth striving for. The “American Dream” is a bridge between capitalistic intentions and egalitarian politics. In the United States, “Children born to 90th-percentile earners are typically on track to make three times more than the children of 10th-percentile earners” (Pinsker 1). Though this can be the result of the “American Dream”, it is important to establish that drastic economical inequality will directly conflict with political equality. Economic inequality is beneficial to the extent at which people strive to achieve goals. However, when greedy business executives abuse their power and wealth, politics tend to be swayed with fiscal renumeration. People who live paycheck-to-paycheck and have a routinized labored job typically have low political influence because of time. They do not have high political efficacy because they believe they are not worthy to influence politics due to their lack of education and wealth. This then leads to a shortage of political understanding which surrounds them. Due to a lack of education and income, the poor predominantly interact and associate themselves with other poor people, while the rich associate themselves with other rich …show more content…
Those who hold a public office are often wealthy and have a vast amount of connections. The problem surrounding access is the inevitable inequalities engrained the United States society. There are many obstacles in society that dissuade certain people from voting such as the spread of information, education, participation, savviness, and most detrimental; time. In essence, those who are near the poverty line do not have the time to actively engage in United States politics. This inherently gives the rich and wealthy more power to engage in society due to the obsolete opinions of the poor, “the already powerful would meet some counter-force in the collective organization of the less privileged… But there has never been equality in political participation. There has never been anything approaching equality in political representation”(Phillips 56). Access is an term that helps the understanding of how an economic inequality essentially harms the existence of political equality. Alongside access, there is also recognition. Anne Phillips described recognition as the second element that plays a large role in the growing conflict between economic inequality and political equality. Social recognition plays a large part in American society. People judge themselves based on their social status, which can degrade or surge peoples’ confidence levels. Confidence levels play an important role in society for many reasons. Those