Political philosophers since Aristotle have continually told us that economic inequality destroys democracy because the rich will find a way to use their wealth to buy political influence. The wealthier they are, the more influence they can typically buy; and the more unequal the society, the harder it gets to keep the wealthy from seizing the reins of state. Of course, it is possible to limit opportunities for the wealthy to buy influence, but the lack of these limits is striking in the most unequal societies. Like water finding the lowest point, somehow the wealthy find a way to exert their influence. And several decades of neoliberal economic policies, coupled with an increasingly intense global competition for labor, and the computerization of middle income jobs, have deepened inequality in states across the world. But equality is more than just a means of keeping the wealthy from gaining too much power.
Absolutely. There is no real democracy without some degree of wealth equality.