Working the Political System

"In areas ranging from local zoning laws to intellectual property protection, from financial regulation to energy subsidies, public policy now bestows great fortunes on those whose primary skill is working the political system rather than producing great products and services."

Lawrence Summers, Financial Times, 8/06/14

Interactive Democracy may help with this problem, too, by making political access easy, ensuring that everyone can vote freely on every issue and by enhancing transparency. It won't eliminate the advantages of the rich, which Mr Summers writes about in his article, but it is a large step towards political equality.

"A Tsunami of money hits US politics"

According to Richard McGregor in the Financial Times there are three ways of funding US Presidential candidates. Both donations, capped to $40000, and uncapped super-political action committees, must be disclosed. But "non-profit social welfare bodies... can take as much money as they want, anonymously. These are supposed to operate exclusively for social welfare reasons, but everyone knows their sole purpose is to win elections" (quoted from MoneyWeek 6/7/12).
The problem of hidden vested interests buying political support has the potential of corrupting democracy. If individuals vote on each issue, as I propose in Interactive Democracy, the problem becomes far less.

Crony Capitalism

"Crony capitalism abounds when government leaders, usually in exchange for political support, routinely bestow favours on private individuals or business. This is not capitalism. It is called corruption."

Alan Greenspan, the Financial Times, quoted in MoneyWeek.

It could also be called crony democracy!

Interactive, or Direct Democracy is far less biased than Representative Democracy. Why? Because when the rich pay money to influence all votes, instead of a few representatives, it is automatically transparent.