The indictment of plutocracy is not directed at rich people in general, but at those who want to amass even greater wealth and power for themselves even though it will cause more problems and hardship for others. Their money – through its far reaching influence on politicians and policies – prioritises their self-serving objectives over public wellbeing.
The only way to counter the plutocrats is to have a democratic system that connects the informed interests of citizens to public policies without the process being undermined by ignorance, deception, coercion, corruption, or manipulation. Any strategy for this needs to encompass the following eight elements:
[1] No to Political Ignorance
Stop plutocrats from keeping people in the dark about how democracy is meant to work in practice, by providing better support for:
· citizenship education in schools
· university involvement in raising public understanding of political & policy issues
· adult education in democracy and active citizenship
· training politicians and public officials in democratic engagement
· courses on democratic skills run by voluntary and community groups
[2] No to Media Deception
Curtail the spreading of lies and misleading information to divert us from the real issues that need to be dealt with by:
· tackling misinformation on social media with a robust financial penalty system
· restraining the spread of false and unfounded information in print and broadcast media
· protecting public service broadcasters
· securing full transparency for the funding of those issuing research findings
· supporting independent fact-checking and accreditation of reporters
[3] No to Unfair Elections
Reform the voting system so that our vote will not count less in effect than the power exercised by plutocrats by:
· establishing automatic voter registration
· replacing first-past-the-post by a form of proportional representational system
· removing voter photo ID requirements
· improving boundary reviews
· strengthening the independence and powers of the Electoral Commission
[4] No to Divided Communities
Counter the attempts to fuel divisions in our community and divert us from developing shared objectives, by providing more support for:
· greater community development capacity in public service
· strengthening local government’s role in bringing communities together
· community organising
· the wider adoption of deliberative engagement techniques
· substituting non-deliberative referendums by deliberative forums
[5] No to Faceless Bureaucracy
Put an end to decisions affecting us being taken without any real understanding of our communities or meaningful involvement from us by:
· devolving more real powers to sub-national levels
· raising awareness of what those with devolved powers do
· strengthening local and neighbourhood democracy
· supporting the voluntary and community sector’s democratic role
· improving public understanding of transnational governance.
[6] No to Power Inequalities
Restrict those with amassed wealth in using their power to control the political agenda by:
· curtailing money’s impact on political decisions
· prioritising the needs of deprived areas and tackle tax evasion and loopholes
· requiring those with the most to pay more for the public good
· limiting the wealthy from buying up media control
· establishing a universal basic income.
[7] No to Unaccountable Behaviour
Ensure those in public office cannot get away with going against the public interest by:
· penalising deceptive communications by politicians
· widening the application of recall procedures
· providing a democratic basis for the second chamber
· strengthening the independence and powers of the Information Commissioner’s Office
· enhancing the accountability for public procurement.
[8] No to Oppressive Rule
Prevent anyone with political power from threatening, hurting, or infringing on our wellbeing without real justification by:
· removing any law that may stop people criticising state policies peacefully
· curtailing attempts to incite hate and anger against minorities
· securing commitment to the rule of law
· guaranteeing basic human rights for all
· funding independent non-profit providers of legal advice.
The above proposed action points serve as a checklist for what needs to be done to give democracy a real chance to restrain plutocratic powers. More details on why and how they should be taken forward are set out in the document, Democracy SOS, which draws together the findings of leading experts and organisations in democracy advocacy in the UK.
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Democracy SOS, is published by Citizen Network in association with Unlock Democracy and Compass – © Henry Tam 2025.
It can be downloaded for free from Citizen Network: https://citizen-network.org/library/democracy-sos.html
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