The Purpose Of Democracy

In the ongoing discussion at Jane Galt's I bring up the purpose of democracy in a modern economy in respose to a comment by Michael Sullivan again.[revised and extended]

You do not understand the purpose of democracy. It is a safety valve.

Its purpose is to keep the people out of the way of the capitalists (prevent revolutions and civil wars) so the capitalists can make money in a stable environment.

It pretty much works. And since capitalists in an honest market (limited government, limits rent seeking - honest justice systems keep civil society civil) build up capital rather quickly, we all get richer over time.

As a person living close to the poverty level at this time, I live better than kings did 150 years ago. Running water, electricity, central air, telephone, cable (I have the equivalent of 2.5 T1 pipes into my home - woo hoo, for $28 a month including 12 TV channels), internet, a computer with more power than a Cray 1, a washing machine and dryer (given to us by a friend who was getting some new machines), and I could go on.

Capital trickles down. As the rich get richer, so do the poor. Just not as fast. Shut the engine down by penalizing the rich and the poor take it in the neck as well. Which is why socialism and other re-distributionist schemes hold back the advancement of the poor.

Even Marx knew that the fastest way to build up capital was to encourage the capitalists. A point the Marxist seldom make. He also knew that building capital was tough. Marx's mistake was to think that in his time the capital building phase was almost over.

Since we are still in the capital building phase we should give the capitalists as much free reign as possible. We will all get richer faster.