Quote from AAAintheBeltway:
The Constitution provides that the individual states have the authority to set qualifications for voting. Originally, most states limited the franchise to landowners, as they understood only too well the danger of letting the have-nots have a key to the bank.
Some of the most stupid, corrupt and/or repressive laws have been passed by extremely wealthy vested interests. The redistribution flaw is by no means limited to the poor using government to fleece the rich or middle class - often it is the other way round.