Democracy: Direct Democracy

When writing the Constitution, one of the most prominent arguments focused on whether America should be considered a Democracy. A large percentage of the founding fathers feared the term “Democracy” because they strongly believed that if the people had control, then there would be disorder and violence. As James Madison stated in Federalist No. 10,

Direct democracy preceded its counterpart and originated in the city-state Athens, Greece around 508 B.C.E. It was established by Cleisthenes. As far as historians can currently tell, it was the world’s first working democracy. Nevertheless, problems still arouse, and it ultimately failed. It was found that direct democracy is only effective when applied to a small population. Another problem was that it was impractical to have every citizen vote on every issue in a country. The Greeks in Athens came up with a system where several hundred citizens were randomly chosen daily by a device called kleroterion to make decisions for the city on that day. This eventually led to the development of representative

Dating back to its admission into statehood, reform has been an undeniable element of California. It could even be argued that many important landmarks in our state history were defined by acts of reform, such as the implementation of direct democracy into its state constitution during the progressive era of the late 19th and early 20th century. In modern California, it could be argued that there has been no greater landmark than the passage of Proposition 140.

Democracy did not occur in a matter of seconds, it took years of evolution to become what it is today. The thought of a self-government during a world ruled by monarchs would have you locked up in a mental hospital. As you can figure, democracy did not just come out of the nowhere, it had to be planned out and modified over the years. The earliest contributions and influences of The American Government came from philosophers, some of them are the part of our founding fathers and others influenced them to develop the strong nation we are today.

It’s hard to define something big as democracy in few short words, but president Abraham Lincoln does it best by defining democracy as a “Government of the people, by the people, for the people” (Bleicherstrasse). The Merriam Webster Dictionary barely scratches the surface of what democracy really means. It tries to define democracy as “a form of government in which people choose leaders by voting, a country ruled by democracy, an organization or situation in which everyone is treated equally and has equal rights”, but democracy is so much more than that. For a government to be considered true democracy it must support these four key elements “A political system for choosing and replacing the government through free and fair elections, the active participation of the people, as citizens, in politics and civic life, protection of the human rights of all citizens, a rule of law, in which the laws and procedures apply equally to all citizens” (Diamond, 2004). If we go by this definition of democracy than America is not consider to be true democracy.

Democracy is defined as, “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” (Merriam-Webster). This means that the basis for American government is a firm belief in the common people that they have the knowledge and power to choose leaders to guide the government in the right direction. In the 1790s there was a monumental political debate over whether the constitution should be ratified and if in needed a bill of rights, and at the center of the debate was Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. While they both believed democracy was the best form of government for the new nation, both men had very different ideas about how to shape the government and its entities. Thomas Jefferson is the better spokesperson a democratic government because of his political beliefs and inherent belief in human reason, a conviction that is not held by Alexander Hamilton.

In the beginning, the nation’s Founders were profoundly skeptical of direct democracy. They believed that the “follies” of direct democracy far outweighed any virtues it might possess (Politics in American pg. 76). According to an essay by Rose Wilder Lane (Lane, 1943), “George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, James Madison, and James Monroe feared democracy.” The founders believed that the Constitution left all other governmental powers to the states (Politics in American 2009 pg. 133). Our Founding Fathers never intended for America to become a democracy. Most of them had served in the American Revolution, either as soldiers in the Continental Army or as part of a legislative body. After the Revolutionary

In recent years, there has been an increasing trend of polarization between the ideologies of the two parties in State Legislatures. This polarization can have wide reaching effects in regards to the policies, or the lack thereof, that are created and passed in state legislatures, and this polarization also impacts state-level elections. The increasing partisanship at the State Level also has an impact in the ease of passing laws, as well as the ability of elected officials to be able to keep their campaign promises and to implement their policy goals. There are many reasons for this trend, though there are a few major reasons that I believe are the root causes of increased polarization in American state legislatures. One of the primary causes

The initiative process is a great example of direct democracy. In California, for the ballot initiative process, citizens draw up

We see that the passage of these initiatives affected the ability of the legislature to create important policies. Proposition 140 is a reform initiative that drastically changed the fundamentals of the legislative system. This proposition halted the cycle of institutional knowledge for legislators who become experts in certain policies. They are barred from running for office once the term limit is fulfilled. In the bigger picture, legislative committee leaders are sometimes new legislators who do not have expertise in the policy. This is problematic because lack of expertise hinders the creation of innovative and effective policy. Proposition 140 created a better over turn thus, giving minorities and women the chance to represent their constituents; the point of the term limit was to repopulate the legislature. By creating this constant repopulation, it allows expertise to be achieved by legislators but it bars them to contribute into policy making once their term limit is achieved. Proposition 118 on the other hand intends to change the composition of the legislature but makes it harder for redistricting to occur. By passing Proposition 118, the legislature will not be able to represent the people of California accurately; thus, creating policy problems since enacted policies will not

In the beginning, the nation’s Founders were profoundly skeptical of direct democracy. They believed that the “follies” of direct democracy far outweighed any virtues it might possess (Politics in American pg. 76). According to an essay by Rose Wilder Lane (Lane, 1943), “George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, James Madison, and James Monroe feared democracy.” The founders believed that the Constitution left all other governmental powers to the states (Politics in American 2009 pg. 133). Our Founding Fathers never intended for America to become a democracy. Most of them had served in the American Revolution, either as soldiers in the Continental Army or as part of a legislative body. After the Revolutionary

The founders of the United States envisioned a government which was controlled by the consent of the governed. The United States of America was the first modern nation to be established under the notion that the citizens have preeminent jurisdiction. Through elections, the people of the United States have the ability to chose a desired politician to be in power in all governmental positions. This political principle strongly represents a democracy as it “ is the idea that government exists to secure the rights of the people and must be based on the consent of the governed” (Doc F).

In a direct democracy, all the citizens could vote for every single issue. Athens’ direct democracy allowed each citizen to take part in the city’s government. Every ten days, the citizens who wanted to vote would gather on a hill. There, the men debated on issues, voted on laws, and listened to others speak their opinions (Frey 285). Since all citizens could participate in the Athenian government, there were a lot of different perspectives on the same issue.

According to James Madison, the author of Federalist Paper No. 10, pure democracy is defined as, “A society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person.” In other words, Madison was trying to tell his audience, all Americans, that the government revolves around them in which they have both direct and indirect powers through representation. The purpose of this is to protect citizens’ rights, promote the law, provide a common defense as well as public services, and to support a strong economic system. The Founding Fathers wanted to step away from the previous monarchy they suffered under in which the Crown had all the power. The only way to do so was to establish a new form of government that limits the highest offices and instead reinforces it in the people’s hands. Democracy in the United States would be different

This article relates how House Bill 25, a bill designed to end straight-ticket voting in any Texas election, passed through the Texas Senate with precursory support by a two-thirds vote on May 17. An update states that the bill received conclusive support through a vote of 19-11. Opponents of the bill believe that it is an attempt to undermine the power of Democrats, as well as unfairly affect minority voters. In the previous year, Michigan attempted to enact legislation much like House Bill 25, but it’s endeavors were halted by a federal judge, on the grounds formerly mentioned. Advocates