In his article ‘Would the Dream of Political Equality Turn out to Be a Nightmare?’ Sidney Verba mentions basic elements that leads to the inactive participation of the citizens in the election and voting process. At the same time the inequality caused because of the political inequality further deteriorated the functioning of the democracy and fewer voting participation. The infrequent number of the citizens and isolation of the citizens in the political process make the democratic activity much weaker. The governmental institutions and in particular the strict regulations on suppressing misdemeanor and the non citizens to take part in the voting process has negative outcomes . The great socioeconomic inequalities between the advantaged and disadvantaged members of the society in their status, education and job opportunities has further nourished the inequality and the less participation in the elections. These actions had large unintentional outcomes on the participation of non American citizens and the especially the male sector of the African American population. Only those who are better off (advantaged) in all aspects of the socio economic process and have good standard of life are more active than the disadvantaged members.
The disadvantaged members are not active in the process because they lack the basic social capital and their reliance on the fact that their engagement in the procedure would escort no diversity or create pleasing outcomes. The declined fallout of the elections process and the abrogation of some citizens have moreover deteriorated the political contribution.
He mentions the benefits achieved by the advantaged group from political outcomes and the disadvantage remains disadvantage which resulted an imbalanced political atmosphere. In such a situation, also mentioned earlier, the well educated sustain most of the political benefits and outcomes. This will enable them to be more active in the process than the disadvantaged citizens.
He further mentions the underrepresentation of the people and one of the basic elements that prohibit the participation has to do with the conditions (social and economic) of the individuals. They develop the inspiration that their activity in the process would not influence the outcomes. This has to do with the history of the political outcomes and promises that has never been fulfilled. It is also apparent that the promises made during elections cannot 100% be fulfilled. The socio economic status limits their trust and involvement in the political process which results fewer voting turnout and great political inequality.
It is evidently, according to Verba, a problem for the proper functioning of the democracy. The underrepresentation, exclusion of some noncitizens, minorities and the disadvantaged member of the society has negative impact on the voting process. The social and economic conditions of the population and the role of the capital in the political campaigns further escalate the process.
I agree with the arguments put forward by Verba. The inequality in politics and socio economic terms do really affect the voting results. The limited voting membership of some of ethnic and noncitizen minorities and nationality laws leads to weaker voting participation. So all these mentioned issues of Political, economic and social domains are the cause of the social stratification and inequality in the society.
To overcome these problems Verba suggests that change in the economic and social conditions of the
poor is necessary. At the same time motivating the disadvantaged members would increase their
role in the political process. He criticizes the non democratic institutions. At the same time he is
optimistic that in spite of all mentioned factors the government must enhance the process of fostering the equality in education and better job opportunities and schooling of the disadvantaged. They must be motivated to engage in the political process and take part in the campaigns to promote democracy and the democratic institutions.
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