In article <bil396$a22$1@pencil.math.missouri.edu>, Mark Graffis says...

Disparity in wealth is killing democracy, scholar warns
Public release date: 27-Aug-2003

Contact: Steven Goldsmith
sgolds@u.washington.edu
206-543-2580
University of Washington

Disparity in wealth is killing democracy, scholar warns
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-08/uow-diw082703.php

Political system awash in corporate money

As Americans begin to tune into another presidential campaign season, they
might assume that democracy is alive and well.
But one scholar argues that representative democracy is effectively dead -
done in by the biggest shift of income and assets to the super-wealthy since
the 1920s.
"President Bush's tax cuts increased the political power of the richest
Americans," says Walter Williams, University of Washington professor
emeritus of public affairs. "Their gains fueled the huge increase in
campaign contributions and made big money the driving force in national
politics."
Williams argues in a paper to be presented Saturday at the annual meeting of
the American Political Science Association in Philadelphia that this
"massive maldistribution" of wealth has severely weakened U.S. political
institutions and democracy.
The trend, Williams said, traces back to President Reagan, who sold a
political philosophy blending antigovernmentism, deregulation and tax cuts
for the most affluent. "Reaganism" continued to prevail even under the
Democratic administration of Bill Clinton, who in essence "ratified" the
philosophy by not repudiating it.
Clinton's successor, George W. Bush, is described by Williams as "the
foremost disciple of Reaganism."
In his conference paper and forthcoming book "Reaganism and the Death of
Representative Democracy," Williams documents what he describes as epic
shifts in wealth during the two decades of Reaganism - for example, that the
top 1 percent saw their after-tax incomes rise 157 percent in real dollars,
while the real incomes of the bottom 20 percent of the population actually
fell.
By contrast, he writes, during the postwar years to 1973, blue-collar
incomes posted the biggest gains and the ranks of the American middle class
swelled.
Today's rising inequality, Williams argues, distorts the political system
and turns ordinary Americans into second-class citizens. Wealthy individuals
and major corporations have returned the favor of tax cuts and deregulation
with a flood of contributions that give Bush a commanding lead for the 2004
campaign - which Williams describes as a key battle to maintain the
plutocracy.
"By the time you or I get into the act," Williams said, "the candidates are
pretty much served up for us by the wealthy interests."
Williams, who is an emeritus professor at the UW's Daniel J. Evans School of
Public Affairs, will present his paper Saturday at the conference's 10 a.m.
session on the political and policymaking implications of wealth inequality.
Also at that session, UW political scientist Mark A. Smith will document the
emergence of conservative intellectuals and their growing influence in
American life. Smith shows that the right, which once lacked an
infrastructure to support intellectual work, has created and sustained an
increasingly large network of publications, networks and institutions. A
growing array of political magazines since World War II has allowed
conservatives to express intellectually coherent principles and programs,
Smith argues, and the founding and growth of think tanks increased the reach
of those ideas.
According to Smith's paper, the influence of academia - where most
professors identify themselves as liberals - does not fully offset the
right's edge in the domain of think tanks. That is because researchers at
think tanks strive for influence over policymakers and the public sphere,
whereas academics are rewarded for contributing to specialized knowledge
within their disciplines.
###
For more information during the conference, contact Williams in Philadelphia
on his cell phone at 206-849-9744 or at The Alexander Inn 215-923-3535. In
Seattle, he can be reached at 206-322-4197 or wwms@u.washington.edu. Smith
can be reached in Philadelphia on his cell 206-235-1882, or in Seattle at
206-368-8431 or masmith@u.washington.edu. The papers, and more information
about the conference, are available at www.apsanet.org/mtgs/program. For a
review copy of "Reaganism and the Death of Representative Democracy,"
contact Gina Armento of Georgetown University Press at 202-687-9856 or
gla2@georgetown.edu.