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Politically active individuals and organizations make huge investments of time, energy, and money to influence everything from election outcomes to congressional subcommittee hearings to local school politics, while other groups and individual citizens seem woefully underrepresented in our political system. The Unheavenly Chorus is the most comprehensive and systematic examination of political voice in America ever undertaken--and its findings are sobering. The Unheavenly Chorus is the first book to look at the political participation of individual citizens alongside the political advocacy of thousands of organized interests--membership associations such as unions, professional associations, trade associations, and citizens groups, as well as organizations like corporations, hospitals, and universities. Drawing on numerous in-depth surveys of members of the public as well as the largest database of interest organizations ever created--representing more than thirty-five thousand organizations over a twenty-five-year period--this book conclusively demonstrates that American democracy is marred by deeply ingrained and persistent class-based political inequality. The well educated and affluent are active in many ways to make their voices heard, while the less advantaged are not. This book reveals how the political voices of organized interests are even less representative than those of individuals, how political advantage is handed down across generations, how recruitment to political activity perpetuates and exaggerates existing biases, how political voice on the Internet replicates these inequalities--and more. In a true democracy, the preferences and needs of all citizens deserve equal consideration. Yet equal consideration is only possible with equal citizen voice. The Unheavenly Chorus reveals how far we really are from the democratic ideal and how hard it would be to attain it.

Democracy --- Pressure groups --- Equality --- Political participation --- ANES panel studies. --- America. --- American civic culture. --- American democracy. --- Internet. --- Supreme Court decisions. --- Washington pressure community. --- Washington representation. --- advantaged. --- age groups. --- age. --- business interests. --- class bias. --- class differences. --- class inequalities. --- class inequality. --- cohort effects. --- creative participation. --- democracy. --- democratic dilemma. --- democratic governance. --- differential voice. --- disadvantaged. --- economic inequality. --- economic interests. --- educated parents. --- educational attainment. --- egalitarians. --- elections. --- electoral democracy. --- empirical analysis. --- equal consideration. --- equal political voice. --- equal voice. --- equality. --- family background. --- federal constitution. --- free rider problem. --- home politics. --- inequalities. --- life-cycle effects. --- material well-being. --- median voter model. --- national politics. --- nonvoters. --- organizational activity. --- organized interest activity. --- organized interest influence. --- organized interest politics. --- organized interest representation. --- organized interest system. --- organized interests. --- organized representation. --- parental education. --- participatory advantage. --- participatory inequalities. --- participatory patterns. --- policy benefits. --- political activism. --- political activity. --- political advantage. --- political conflict. --- political division. --- political inactivity. --- political inequality. --- political involvement. --- political organizations. --- political outcomes. --- political participation. --- political polarization. --- political processes. --- political recruitment. --- political voice. --- pressure community. --- pressure politics. --- pressure system. --- public officials. --- public opinion. --- public policy. --- rational prospecting. --- resource constraint. --- resource constraints. --- resource deprived. --- resource disadvantaged. --- social class. --- social processes. --- socio-economic status. --- socio-economic stratification. --- state constitutions. --- strategic considerations. --- survey data. --- surveys. --- systematic empirical data. --- trade-offs. --- unequal political voice. --- union membership. --- voluntary associations. --- voters. --- voting power. --- voting strength. --- voting. --- websites.