American Democracy : Is It Unhealthy And Who Is Blame?

From the early 1840s to the present day, a democracy can be described as a flawed establishment which has been shaped by the power of wealth and control, complex social relations, and most importantly the people’s desire to live a fulfilling life. Throughout this time period the principles of democracy, such as equality, protection of the people’s interest, and promotion of human rights were shifting in order to increase the democracy efficiency. Therefore the continued importance of the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and Constitution remain significant since, in American today, democracy is a system that is continuously being shaped by the people within it.

The United States is the oldest recognized democracy in the modern world. It has stayed strong for such a long time because this type of government protects the interest of citizens, promotes equality, and prevents a monopoly of power. The American Democracy, like all systems of government, has strengths and weaknesses in relation to the power, politics, and people in the country.

Despite the many crises that the United States has faced historically, democracy has persisted. However, this is not to say that the system is secure or deeply rooted. In fact, based on the events of recent decades, it has been weakening. In How Democracies Die, Levitsky and Ziblatt provide examples of how American democracy has exemplified the positive and negative aspects of other global democracies of the past and present. Although the US is exceptional in some ways, with its longstanding democratic institutions and diverse population, it is more similar to others than different. Thus, the idea that few parallels can be drawn to other nations is disproven. The process of comparing each state is analogous to that of differentiating between

In two world wars, Korea, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf, Americans fought and died so that democracy would prevail around the world. In the minds of many Americans, America is the bastion of democracy. But how democratic is America? Today’s America was “born” with the signing of the constitution in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There, it was determined how democratic America would be. And every American should ask himself how democratic America was made at that constitutional convention in Philadelphia.

The American political system is built on simple but revolutionary principles from our founding Fathers. These principles state that self-governance is an absolute right and the governments purpose is to serve the interests of the people. Characteristics which are essential to a healthy, functioning democracy. But America has stumbled upon a formidable roadblock to the realization of our founding fathers dream, as Lincoln said, of a country that is "of the people, by the people and for the people"( Citizens at Work, 2003). There are many factors that distort this reality and the main

“How Democratic Is the American Consitution?” written by Robert A. Dahl is a novel that’s main purpose is to “suggest changes in the way we think about our constitution” (Dahl 2003, p.1). Robert A. Dahl revolves his book around a few questions. However, the main focus of all the questions are “why should we Americans uphold our constitution” (Dahl 2003, p.1)? This question is asked because he questions why we uphold something that was written more than two centuries ago. He also questions how democratic our society is because of our constitution. Dahl examines the fact that some Americans have no problem with the constitution as it is today and then he also states that some find it to lack in some crucial areas. Dahl explains that there are seven crucial areas in which the constitution lacks democracy. These include: slavery, suffrage, election of the president, choosing senators, equal representation in the Senate, Judicial power, and Congressional power.

Democracy, as most people think of it today, did not exist during the first few decades of U.S. history.

American politics has proved to be flawed in structure over, and over again. Although our founding fathers had the best intentions when they implemented democracy, they like most modern day politicians, failed to actually make things better. Yes we gained our Independence, but with the ability to make our own choices we tend to make childish and impulsive decisions. The election of Donald Trump stands to be the most recent of those mistakes, and the politicians who work for him are either blinded or full of regret. Poets Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Robert Lowell paint vivid pictures of these very mistakes that seem to recur with the thought of democracy.

Is Democracy in the United States working? Many citizens feel that it is not working, or at the least, it is not working as it was originally intended. Parker J. Palmer in his book, Healing the Heart of Democracy, states that American democracy would fail if generation after generation of citizens did not develop what he refers to as “habits of the heart” that democracy requires. According to him, this is deeply ingrained patterns of receiving , interpreting , and responding to experiences that involve our intellects, emotions, self-images, and concepts of meaning and purpose—habits that form the inward and invisible infrastructure of democracy (Palmer, 2011).

Since the United States of America established itself as its own self-governing country, one of the things that caused it to be salient and stand out from other countries is its relentless insistence on functioning as a democracy. Wars and protests have occurred so that every type of people, whether it was women or African Americans, may be granted the right to vote. Having a say in the American government is an honor and a privilege bestowed upon American citizens when they reach the age of eighteen. However, in recent years, statistics have shown that voter turnout and participation in recent elections has been rapidly and steadily declining, causing the United States to have the lowest voter participation in the world (“Is the System

This paper will evaluate the health of U.S. democracy by focusing on the on a key element that makes for a healthy democracy: effective representation. By effective representation I refer to communication between both representatives and constituents, through policy enactments and elections, respectively, to serve the people and the interest of the country as a whole. Whether the U.S. is living up to this standard can be evaluated through multiple avenues, in this paper I will only evaluate the health of democratic representation in the U.S. by examining the competence of the public (voters). Numerous scholars and researchers have cast doubt upon how well democracy in the U.S. functions in the United States. Before examining the deficiencies of the public, it must be noted that while no governmental system is perfect by any means, anarchism as an alternative to government is not a practical solution (Dahl, Chapter 3, pp. 50-51).

We live in this country for the land, and the for the free as Americans we rely on many attributes in this world in order for us to live our lives. Our government has supplied us with many great things for us to be proud of. Our government is “the institutions and processes though which public policies are made for society.” (Edwards, Wattenberg, and Lineberry, p. 7). With all these institutions which includes the President, Congress, the courts and all the federal administrative agencies. These are the institutions that make up public policies for us, and to shape the way we live as Americans. The way this system has been operating through all the years has been

The United States of America is one of the oldest contemporary democracies, is currently the second largest democracy, and is ranked the 16th best democracy in the world (Campbell et. Al, 2014). Yet there is a legitimate question over whether or not the United States can still truly be considered a democracy, with some studies even suggesting it has begun to resemble an oligarchy (Chumley, 2014). In this essay, I will use Dahl’s criteria of voting equality and effective participation to determine whether or not the United States are truly a democracy.

Why do Americans have limited amount of political knowledge? It’s because the public lacks interest in politics. They rely on group/party loyalty, rather than reasoning. Their responses change randomly from survey to survey. Recent research shows that the public knows some basic things. For example, they know the location of the capital and the length of president’s term, but they lack knowledge about other basic things. About 50% know there are 2 senators for each state, and only 66% know which party controls the House. They show high instability of their preferences, so explosion of information sources has not helped. The authors Greenburg and Page believe that political “trivia” may not be a good measure of adequate knowledge. They also mentioned that the reason for the instability of preference is because people change their minds and reflect on multidimensional ideology. It’s understandable that American citizens have lost trust in the government as well as interest, but the group of people that show the least amount of interest in politics and voting are the young generation.

Although our nation’s government relies on the fundamentals of liberal democracy, it still has many flaws. Articles written by Francis Fukuyama share a clear message suggesting that America’s political institutions are decaying and its flaws will not be fixed unless we have good leadership within the government that yields good policies. It is still not too late to make reformations in the system. Today, US citizens share a distrust for the inner workings of our government, and through the years, there are many things that must change. Although our government is able to withstand failures right now, it may cause an expansion of problems that will cost us indefinitely. The existence of interest groups has caused an exponential increase in the elite control of the system, thus creating people’s lack of trust for the government.