Democracy In The United States

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.

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.

A Government, according to the Merriam Webster Dictionary is system used to make decisions for a country. Idealy a country’s inhabitants and decision makers would come to a general consensus and “happy compromise” regarding the national government’s limits and intended purpose. However, in World History there is long pattern of abuse of power, disagreement, a division between people. Politics doesn’t lend itself well to compromise. During the time period from 1765-1800 there were many differing, outspoken views on the role of government, and like many ideas they evolved throughout time.

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

America was founded on the basic principle of democracy…right? Isn’t that the freedom we were searching for when the voyagers left Europe to form the US in the first place? The irony in this is that we are often taught to believe that the United States uses a true democracy. Over the years the United States has contradicted many of their basic ideologies and principles that we were founded on. For the most part, our Constitution has remained basically intact, other than minor exceptions here and there. However, our founding documents are extremely open ended and leave much room to change and interpret throughout time. Due to the flexibility of the United States founding documents the country practices a representative democracy rather

What is democracy? Democracy is a form of government that vest the power onto the people (Barbour & Wright, 2016). When a state actor’s form of government is democracy, the citizens vote for their leaders and on laws to be passed. Democracy is part of the non-authoritarian system which means the individual citizens decide how to live their lives and the government’s role is very limited (Barbour & Wright, 2016). There are many state actors that run their countries in a democracy way including, United States, Sweden, Japan, and India. Although the United States Democracy is not exactly a true democracy.

I have recently read your novel Democracy in America, and as one of the founding fathers of America, I would like to give you my input. I have my own ideas on how our democracy should be run and can see that we both share similar and contrasting beliefs specifically in relation to the chapter in your novel, “Unlimited Power of the Majority in the United States, and Its Consequences”.

Many people believe that America is a democracy; these people are not wrong; however, the more accurate term would be a ‘representative democracy’. The reason behind this is, as opposed to every citizen going to the polls and voting on each public issue, we have elected officials that vote based on their constituents preferences. Since it is the people that elect these representatives, it is critical that public opinion be taken into consideration. However, regardless of how we gather our data, bias often makes it difficult to accurately gauge public opinion.

The Webster definition for democracy is a system of rule by laws, not by individuals. In a democracy, the rule of law protects the rights of citizens, maintain orders and limits the power of the government. All citizens are equal under the law. No one may be discriminated against based on age, beliefs, race, religion, ethic group or gender. In the United States of America, our country is known for its democracy. The people hold the power to rule and make all the decisions both direct and representative. An example of direct democracy is when we can vote on certain concerns and vote on who we would like to represent for us. A direct democracy is when the people can decide on policy initiatives. Representative democracy is when we have a representative

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.

The United States is usually recognized as a liberal and ideal place to live by most people and countries because of their development of their single most powerful form of government, democracy. The very citizens of the United States believe that it is in their hands to influence all order and management of their beloved and praised country, however, the realism in this system has been blinded by their own people. The United States, though it may seem like a democracy because it emphasizes delegating popular sovereignty, is in no shape or form an absolute democracy where it gives the power to the people to make the decisions or influence law. The contribution of the people is in fact effective and needed, but it is not the citizens who

The road to democracy for America was a long one. This road starts before America was its own country it was under the rule of the British Empire. Under the Monarch the colonist’s individual rights were completely compromised in return for order and stability. Colonists felt as the King was wrongfully infringing upon their rights and declared independence from the British. Down the road during the Revolutionary war America functioned through the Articles of Confederation, a system where the power was given to the states. This worked well for America during the war, however; afterwards the flaws of the Articles became evident. States were not unified as one and therefore maintaining order was impossible. Forced with the conflict of developing a sound government, the Founding Fathers of America do this by finding a balance between the individual rights of the people and the power of the government to maintain order with the concepts of unalienable rights, checks and balances, and popular sovereignty.

I believe that the American Government allows Americans to be very democratic on some issues, and not as much on others. I think the way the American Electoral Democracy is set up, for example, does a good job of representing everyone’s vote for president. As far as policies go, America could do a much better job of equally representing each person.

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