Democracy And American Politics : Wealth Vs. Want

What is democracy, do we really understand the concept and the implications of the freedoms that our society enjoys. Democracy by definition is a “government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections”.(1) The United States democracy in current times can be a difficult situation to grasp, due to the fact that we are operating off of the Constitution written over 200 years ago, and individuals modern

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 American democracy is one of the most peaceful kinds of government in the world although it is a long way from utopia. The democracy in which we live has many strengths and weaknesses. Neither strengths or weaknesses out weigh one another, but it is necessary to have both due to the varying definitions. A democracy is a government that is run by the people. The politicians that we elect to run our government are human and they are susceptible to mistakes based on their own strengths and weaknesses. The strengths and weaknesses they possess are reflected into our government but at least “we the people” elect them and they are not chosen for us.

By definition, democracy is a type of political system in which all members share the same level of power, but it is also the framework for the government of multiple countries including the United States of America. Athenian democracy, created near 400 B.C. in Athens, Greece, was a direct system where participating citizens had the opportunity to vote directly on legislative and executive bills. The founding fathers of the United States took the Athenian’s idea and created the idea of “representative democracy”, where the citizens of a nation were able to elect representatives who would make decisions for them. In fact, the United States could be considered to be more of a constitutional republic than democracy, since the Athenian democracy that influenced them is not a “true democracy”. Even though differences between the two governments exist, ancient Athenians heavily influenced the Founding Fathers of the United States of America to form a democratic government, allow representatives to vote on legislation, and to provide equality and fair trials to their people.

It is observed through many generations democracy has provided equality, freedom, representation, and many other factors to contribute to the United States. We can see that the initial posterity that the founding fathers were hoping, have been achieved by the father’s enforcement through democracy. Generations are now taking advantage of their democratic right, and are influence on how the government is being ran as for the people and by the

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).

This source provides many definitions and concepts that make it easier to understand the terminology we hear about in our everyday life or in the sources that we use. Being able to relate back to a source that contains facts and examples helps us form our own opinion instead of jumping on somebody else’s bandwagon. This source is a reliable source because it was written by two political science professors that truly care about the subject of Analyzing American Democracy. Jon Bond and Kevin Smith are the main authors but used others to contribute to the book so that they would have the proper facts and

Kesselman and Katznelson say about the 5 standards that met for the country to be democratic are having citizen participation is traditional as the centerpiece of democracy because it allows people to make decision, concern of political representation since not all can continually make political decisions , responsiveness on concerns should be characterized by ethnicity, race,sex and geography , concerns on personnel is based on formal way in reflecting the characteristics since it avoids abstract representation in quotas, and lastly the effectiveness based on effectiveness which results from wants in not incl including unequal representatives. They combine the procedural and substantive approach in measuring and defining American democracy talked about allowing people having difficulty in voting due to the way you look. Also not given enough representation.

Democracy is a system of government for the people and by the people. We as Americans

It is extremely important for Americans and the rest of the world that America is a democracy. Democracy has been the foundation that has allowed for such a diverse populace to coexist and thrive. America is seen as the golden standard and models the benefits that come along with being a representative democracy. While democracy has allowed America to prosper as a multicultural society, it is increasingly becoming fragile. Certain aspects of American democracy like the electoral college, gerrymandering and lower voter turnout further threaten the democratic nature of America.

Democracy a universally recognized phenomenon refers to a government deriving its power from the people and being answerable to them (Fox 2008). President Abraham Lincoln (Gettysburg Address, 1863) said about democracy "...is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not vanish from this earth ‘ (Fox 2008). The foundations of democracy in America are found within, “The Declaration of Independence of 1776” and “The Constitution of 1789”, both products of the American Revolution where equality and the rights of man were the focus of their creation (Rodgers 2001). The first half of this paper discusses the notion that despite having the best institutional powers that uphold democratic functions within the American government, this doesn’t always translate into the perfect democratic election.

In the contemporary world, different people from various nations hold varying ideas about the United States of America. The American citizens view their nation as an exceptional country while the rest of the world consider America a unique society, standing out on its own from other great nations. There are several factors, great people, numerous outstanding laws and exceptional culture that make America unique among nations. Apparently, persons of political class boundlessly speak of active of their nation to attract and win the masses. However, the American exceptionality is beyond the political standard, as it traces back to the US history, and plenty of tangible evidence to support the claims.

In today's society people elect representatives because those representatives defend people ideas and have solutions to people needs. The fact of been able to elect any representative make our society a democracy because we are free to elect who we want and everyone has the opportunity to express their opinion by voting for a representative. Also this voting process is do every certain time and representatives can be reelected a certain amount of time, giving the opportunity to everyone to be a representative. Furthermore, people have also options to change a representative during his/her tern if the representative does not show competence and responsibility at his/her job.

Throughout the course of world history there has been various attempts to have a political revolution to form a society built through democracy. In some cases, like the United States, the challenge to build a functioning society through democracy has been successful. Yet, in the case of the French Revolution for democracy, the result was near disastrous. So what separated these two nations in their conquest for a successful political revolution? The answer lies within the structures and institutions established by the United States founding fathers. Both The Federalist Paper by John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton and Democracy In America by Alexis de Tocqueville analyze how establishing these different structures will lead to a successful American government founded on democracy. In The Federalist Papers the authors use two different articles, Federalist Paper 10 and Federalist Paper 51, to demonstrate how the systems set in place would lead to set up a structure for a successful democracy. Federalist 10 focused on how the United States’ government needed to large in order to control factions while not completely destroying them. Federalist 51 focuses on separation of powers and checks and balances as a way to prevent a branch of government from becoming too powerful and infringing the rights of the citizens. In the case of De Tocqueville, he portrays how the people who settled the United States and the use of associations to combat the issue of individualism

There are five principles of democracy that are used in the United States. The first one is popular sovereignty. Popular sovereignty is used when we have elections. The next one is Rule of Law and this one is used to tell that the law applies to everyone. The third is Separation of Powers and this is used for example the three branches of government. The fourth is Checks and Balances and this is why we have the three branches of government so that they all have different powers so that no one can overuse and powers. Lastly is Federalism which has three different powers.