In 1911, Robert Michels observed that despite their ideologies, Europe’s socialist parties were as dominated by their leaders as the conservative ones. He concluded that all organizations, regardless of their ideology, tended towards oligarchy: expansion grows complexity, which breeds bureaucracy, which concentrates power and resources. And power, as we all know, almost always corrupts.
Michels called this process ‘the iron law of oligarchy’, iron implying no exceptions. Not surprising then that moved from the Social Democratic Party in Germany to the Italian Socialist party, and later to the Italian Fascist Party—which he saw as a more democratic form of socialism—and went on to become an economist in Mussolini’s regime.
Well: it wouldn’t be hard to think that that is where America is, because we have such a concentration of power among the hyper-wealthy. It is absolutely true that in every society, from the beginning of time, the wealthy have tried to capture the resources produced by democracy and sequester them for their use. From this perspective, democracy can be seen as an endless fight to prevent this capture.
And yet. Sometimes the agents of equality succeed.
Since 2020, Minnesota and Pennsylvania implemented Automatic Voter Registration. Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota now allow all 16 year olds to pre-register, which means that many more 18 year olds will be registered on November 5th. Delaware and Montana introduced same-day registration. For the first time, Connecticut will offer in-person early voting. Alabama, Minnesota, and New Mexico now allow voters to apply to be on a permanent list to receive absentee ballot. And Iowa ended its strict ID law, which may be a first in the nation. It’s hard to vote in many places. But sometimes, sometimes, voters organize and don’t back down, and it gets easier.