How Democratic Is The U.s. Constitution?

Most of the specifications for the executive branch in the Constitution, other than how he is to be elected, have to deal with the interactions between Congress and the President. The president can (fill in the blank) but only if (this part) of Congress approves. The powers of the president have been interpreted widely so that he has more power than I believe the Framers intended. They wanted him to be able to check Congress with veto power and be the head of the military. However, I think that presidents nowadays have too much power. They are active in trying force their policy agenda through Congress, manage foreign relations, and act as the administrative head of the entire nation. The textbook lays it out well in, "The vast size of the executive branch and the number and complexity of decisions that must be made each day pose a challenge for the White House.” (316) In order to deal with the stresses put on the executive branch, there are thousands of employees that work to give the president the information that he needs to make decisions. He has advisors, cabinet members, legislative liaisons; the list goes on and on, but he is the person who actually gets to make all of the choices. The President is limited in some ways and given more power in other ways by the structure laid out for him in the Constitution, and evolved to be what it is now.

Robert Dahl's book How Democratic is the American Constitution, reminds us that the American Constitution wasn't the only possible base for a democratic system in America. In this book Dahl explains some of the democratic and undemocratic aspects of the American constitution. He also explains what should be changed to improve it.

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,

The executive branch is the strongest, most capable, and most important branch of government. The president, as commander in chief, can regulate an entire country’s military and have full oversight of the most deadly weapons available. They have the power to veto bills passed by Congress. They can also establish executive orders without the consent of Congress. Last of all, they have the power to appoint their own cabinet, justices to the Supreme Court, and ambassadors to other countries. Not only can these powers help the president get important actions done, but it also gives them a lot of capacity on what they can work with. Because of these powers and how highly regarded and important to society they are, the executive branch currently

     Democracy is defined as “A system of government in which ultimate political authority is vested in the People.” The Declaration’s

The power of the executive branch is vested by the President of the United States. This branch is the largest branch that operates with assistance from the Vice President, agencies and members to successfully lead the government. The executive branch mainly operates based on the responsibilities and duties of the President implementing and forcing laws written by Congress (Whitehouse.gov). However, the interactions that the executive branch has with the other branches productively endorse power. The interactions that the executive branch has with the legislative branch are carrying out and enforce the laws that

Since the ratification of the Constitution, more than 11,000 amendments have been proposed. The Constitution of the United States of America was Officially ratified in 1789. This makes the document over two-hundred years old. Since the time of its writing and eventual ratification, the document has been amended and interpreted in many ways. Whether it be prohibition to the abolition of slavery. The Constitution has been constantly updated over time. It has not laid stagnant with the time. The Constitution has remained the document off of which we have based our country for many years. A major question that has been posed is, why do we as a country still feel bound to this document written so many years ago? The reasons are fairly simple. The Constitution of the United States can and has been over many years amended, the laws and thoughts of a people can be expressed through the Constitution, and the constitution has functioned, with a few bumps in the road, fairly well over the last two-hundred years. The people of the United States should still stand behind this Constitution because it infact still serves us well today in many ways. A few being that it can be amended and “Fixed”, and another being that it does still protect our rights as citizens.

As citizens of America, how free are we? Yes essentially, we can make our own decisions but at what cost. It seems like in order to uphold structure and stability within while securing the wellbeing of every citizen of a nation us to have a government. However, if the establishment of government is essential, there are certain sacrifices one has to make to ensure one’s protection. Therefore, the battle between freedom, equality, and security comes into play when you’re trying to construct a “perfect” government”. In which we are inbounded by our constitution that has been in effect for two centuries.

American politics is often defined by a continuing power conflict between the executive and the legislative branches of the government. This struggle for political power between the two stronger branches of the three is inherent in the Constitution, itself. The concepts of separation of powers and checks and balances ensure that the branches of government will remain in conflict and provide a balance that keeps the entire government under control. As it was first established, the executive branch was much smaller and weaker than as we know it today. Consequently, the legislative branch was unquestionably dominant. Over the course of history, the executive branch grew in both size and power to the point where it occasionally overtook the

Prior to the American Revolution the 13 colonies took some steps towards a democratic government but remained undemocratic in various ways. Many steps were taken towards a democratic government, and the same amount of steps and some greater were taken towards a undemocratic government through conflict in different social classes, and limited rights.

Executive power has a president, and vice president should hold his office during the term of four years. Each branch check each other so no branch can have absolute power. The separation of power constantly prevents tyranny from happening by dividing power and each power check each other.

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.

Even though democracy was first invented in Greece, fully grew and developed in the United states. As we know democracy is the back bone for one country’s development. When the government is under the law, it is least likely abusing the country’s resources for individual use and participating in corruption. For example, Africa has different kind of good resources, but the continent is very back ward because of their corrupted and dictator governors. A constitution is a framework that legally describes the rules and procedures of a government and legally binds that government to a set of guides as it limits and empowers the government to act in the name of the people or the state. “America got a constitution

Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines democracy "as a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by the people" (www.merriam-webster.com). But the one big problem is that "We the people" are not exercising their "supreme power" to determine the U.S. government. Less than half of the eligible electorate showed up at the polls for the 1996 U.S. presidential election. While lower turnout has marred previous presidential elections, 1996's voter turnout dipped below 50 percent for the first time in more than 30 years. It appears that the people's increasing cynicism about politicians that they lie to get elected and the perception that people have no respect or confidence in the

Imagine if the entire American government system was operated entire by the president. Every decision, law, and court ruling determined by only one person. There is no room for debate or questioning, ultimately leading to the abuse of power and authority. While this may seem completely absurd, many believe that this is not very far away from actual truth. Due to the uneven use of checks and balances among the three branches of government, it has resulted in the executive branch of the American government gaining too much power, therefore leaving the original intent of the constitution to be changed and unenforced.