It is a political calculus that matters significantly.This article focuses mainly on two political costs of democracy, i.e., cost of electoral competition and cost of the politics of vulgarization.

• 本文试图批判地考察当代代议民主体制的两项主要的政治成本，即选举竞争的成本和政治庸俗化的成本，并思索纾解改良之可能性。