Diminished voter turnout linked with income disparity

[eridani]

http://www.drivedemocracy.org/blog/index.php?p=5

Original--http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=301260

In a 2003 study of 38 democracies across the globe, authors Dennis C. Mueller and Thomas Stratmann found that increased voter turnout results in dramatically diminished income disparity. The gap closes between rich and poor. More people vote in “strong” democracies because government is responsive to their needs. (This need not mean government programs. It just means government tends to do what voters ask it to do.) Responsive governments create wealth. GNP rises. The rich don’t get richer at the expense of the poor. Voters get results, and their confidence as citizens rises.

But the reverse is also true. One would think that those punished by cruel and inattentive governments would rise up and demand their due. But that is not the case in the 38 democracies studied.

Unresponsive governments produce smaller voter turnouts, greater income disparity, and diminished economic growth. The rich, however, usually do get richer, and the poor get poorer.

According to recent research, people vote when they have confidence as citizens and when they feel free to express their opinions. A government that goes right after that confidence need not worry about rebellion. In fact, cutting services to the underprivileged has a direct voter suppression effect.

[CaTeacher]

1. Maybe we should take the vote away

from people who earn or have more than a certain amount....

(just joking--kind of)

[izzie]

2. I have heard this

People who do not own homes should not vote. At the start they could not. But then who pays the taxes the owners pays when he rents. I used to get this full in the face when I moved around with my husband in the service.I had to point this out to many people who were not in the service as I moved around. Also in that time you could not vote for local people in Maine, only people running for DC jobs. Since we also owned a place in Maine I felt that unfair but that was how the ballot was from the mail. I also had to get it my self and get an officer to sign it then send it in. Voting was always a big thing to me and I did it all. My husband said to hell with it. Voting was not as easy as it is now for most people. If you have a job just how did you do it when they used to make it so hard to sign up.