政治平等是使民主政治得以成為可能的必要條件,但不同的論者對政治平等的要求卻各有其著重之處。因此,在政治上每一個人都必須被視如待如平等者這樣的形式宣稱該如何被落實,就不曾存在著唯一的答案。本文將先探討政治平等該如何被證成,並漸次分析選舉權的年齡限制背後之假設、平等的選舉權之實質、平等的政治影響力是否可欲、什麼樣的政治平等的訴求可能是弊多於利的等相關問題。此外,本文亦將細究約翰•彌爾複票制主張之內在邏輯,並評估其對尚未臻成熟的民主體制的參考價值。要言之,民主政治當然必須維護過程的公正性,但同時也應該關切整個政治過程所造成的結果。缺少了對於結果的關注,就很難使民主政治發掘自身之問題,以及展現更強韌的生命力。
As a fundamental presumption of democracy, political equality maintains that everyone is to be regarded and treated as political equal. But the pursuit of political equality, when driven to extremes, provokes immense difficulty in improving the quality of collective decision. Without doubt, John Stuart Mill's advocacy of plural voting testified this weighty worry in its traditional form. This essay tries to scrutinize the true meaning of political equality, especially in its participation side. The essay also attempts to assert that the notion of political equality that levels off all the differences and takes equal influence as its goal is not a desirable one. Besides, a modern and modified version of plural voting is presented to be considered by democracies that face turmoil of populist origins.