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recommendations for the promotion of a specific vision of democracy that many liberals
consider anti-democratic.
The paper is divided into three parts. First, we outline the conservative defense of social
and economic inequality. We find that the commitment to inequality is not simply based on
support for a market system, nor can the defense of inequality be viewed merely as a reaction to
the expansion of the welfare state in the 1960s and 70s. On a more fundamental level the
defense of inequality derives from a particular view of human nature, which finds its origin in a
specific interpretation of the Judeo-Christian concept of original sin.
Second, we identify the political structures that conservatives wish to establish in order to
promote the goal of inequality. Specifically, we examine the conservative conception of
federalism, relying primarily on the literature of public choice theory, and show how
conservatives have used this literature to argue for a specific version of American federalism. In
general, this view of federalism holds that the worst features of American democracy can be
eliminated by reducing the size of decision making units. Smaller decision making units, in the
language of public choice theory, can create conditions that over time can lead to results that
approximate unanimity in decision making. Furthermore, smaller units are more receptive to
civic groups, reducing the possibilities for opportunistic behavior that often leads to “rent
seeking.” Paradoxically, we show that such structures actually undermine, rather than promote,
democratic decision making.
Finally, we use a real example of public policy, the 1996 Personal Responsibility
and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), to demonstrate that the devolutionary
federalism advanced by conservatives subverts equality, thereby subverting democracy. Roeder
(1994) argues that competition between local communities improves democracy as politicians
Convention