ABSTRACT
The term universal suffrage comes out of the mythical conception of democracy. James Madison and his associates were especially concerned about the capacity of debtors to democratically violate the rights of creditors and of the propertyless to disregard the rights of property. In numerous ways the will of the people, as expressed through the ballot, may not be well translated into who holds power and what policies are carried out. A very different kind of constraint on electoral processes comes out of the ways in which competition for the allegiance of the electorate is organized. Democracy was seen not only as corrupt and backward but also as entirely hypocritical in its claims to represent the people. The two-edged sword: A governing elite may attempt to invoke the notion that it rules on the basis of popular will. Established elites and social movement challengers will often attack each other's democratic claims.
