Are small investors qualified to make decisions impacting multi-billion dollar corporations?

The Global Proxy Exchange is about corporate democracy—letting investors retake control of the corporations they own. Questions about the competence of the masses to make decisions are always raised when democracy threatens an oligarchy. Thomas Jefferson observed “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule …” Later, Winston Churchill commented “... democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” This is perhaps the essential argument in favor of democracy. Giving power to the masses is frightening, but giving it to anyone else is more frightening.

Mob rule shouldn’t be an issue with the proxy exchange. One reason is that the democracy of capitalism is an elitist democracy. Instead of one person, one vote, it works according to one share, one vote. With influence proportional to each person’s stock holdings, the wealthy have an advantage—and they tend to be better educated than the general population. Some people may feel corporate democracy should be based on one person, one vote. Others may prefer the status quo. The proxy exchange is a moderate compromise between the two extremes.