The United States has strived to be the strongest and most free democracy in the world, even though the United States truly is a republic. As a nation the United States have faced many issues that has greatly divided the nation, but we as a nation have been able resolve the most pressing of them. Today we face new issues that seem to cut deeper and push us farther apart.
There are many issues facing the United States. There true importance is widely debated, but some of the more prevalent are climate change, including droughts and severe weather, energy independence, income inequality, and governance equality. The most hotly debated among these issues is whether or not climate change or global warming is even real. The scientific community acknowledges that there is something that is making the temperatures around the world fluctuate from normal, even that something that is causing the changes is debated, whether it is a natural cycle or is a man-made disaster. Currently the most pressing issue is the inequality among governance and income. The middle class has shrunk and the upper one percent hasn’t controlled as much as they do now since the age of Rockefeller.
In December of 2013 Gallup polls recorded the lowest ever approval rating for congress at 9 percent (Congress Job Approval). Citizens are becoming more and more fed up with congress and their inability to pass even the simplest of legislation. The citizens of the United States are no longer only divided amongst
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America...and to the republic for which it stands...one nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.” (“Is the United States a Democracy?”) The United States’ pledge is taught to children of all ages, plays an active role in the patriotism of the people, and it symbolizes the citizen’s promise to never violate the Republic of the United States of America. The founding fathers built the foundation of America on their ideological belief that the country should be a republic and that all mankind are created equally. However, over the years, America has gained the title as a democratic nation and the status quo of America being considered “the majority rule.” The present state of affairs of the American government proves to be incorrect because the United States is not a democracy. The United States has limited citizens to participate equally on various occasions, due to the emphasis the government has placed on non-democratic practices, inconsistencies, and discrimination regarding race, gender, and ethnicity.
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
Congress is not doing their job, and the Americans of United States are disapproving on how Congress is proceeding to do their duties. Theoretically, this is not really a new issue in Congress; they have had multiple fights and delays on bills throughout the years. An example would be the House of Representatives proposing fewer bills throughout this past decade. This is one of many issues that Congress had been doing behind the people of United States of America. While Congress members are slacking to do anything productive, we the “Americans” are slipping this situation right by our eyes. Congress needs to be situated and organized; and we the people, cannot afford any slackers in the Legislative Branch.
Despite being one of the oldest and most consistently stable democracies in the Western world, the American government, and American democracy as a whole, has frequently come under fire in recent years. Whether it is political parties, pundits, bloggers or citizens, Americans and non-Americans are all lining up to take shots at what they diagnose as a storied democracy crumbling before their eyes. Two of Robert Dahl’s criteria for a healthy democracy are enlightened understanding: are citizens able to acquire the political information necessary to participate in their own democracy, and control of the agenda: do the American senators and members of congress have exclusive and
Americans have always had a love-hate relationship with Congress. It usually depends on whether or not we believe issues that are important to us (religion, abortion, immigration, jobs etc.) are being brought to the fore front and our elected officials are representing our best interest in these issues. We love them when we get our way and complain when we don’t. Interestingly the 13% approval rating that they have presently may be a little low to what it was in the past, but the past ratings do not suggests that Congress was ever popular. Nicholas Longworth once said, “We were unpopular when Lincoln was a congressman. We were unpopular when John Quincy Adams was a Congressman. We were unpopular even when Henry Clay was a Congressman. We
When speaking of politicians we have to look at the local and federal officials. We are living in a world today as to where other countries have lost assurance in our federal government. It’s evident that we now live in a world of chaos faced with a lot of different controversial issues. A vast part of this reason is due to decisions made by our politicians. A typical example is the inadequacy of health care this has been a huge controversial topic that affects millions of people. Children and adults lack in health care while many families struggle to earn a living and America’s families are being denied the chance to achieve the American Dream. The Bible teaches us to respect our parents, the elderly and those placed in authority. Therefore
Congress currently has the lowest approval rating they have ever had, however, the incumbent reelection rates are over 90%. This points to a culture where cooperation and compromise are no longer the prime objective. People expect their congressman to force their issue and not compromise on issues that may be contrary to their beliefs. According to America’s
According to a recent poll that was taken in 2014, there was a list of certain important aspects of the U.S community and government to get the peoples opinion on what citizens thought of them. The list had a wide variety of entities from the U.S military and small businesses to Newspapers. Every participant of the poll was given the list and was asked to choose the ones you had quite a lot and/or great deal of confidence in; however, congress was given the least amount of votes out of every other option on the list with 5% on both great deal and quite a lot. I'm going to give a sense of the perspective on how insignificant those numbers are, because the military was the highest voted with 43% great deal of confidence with 33% great deal of confidence. But there is a good reason for the distrust for congress, because of their bias nature and partisan conduct when it comes to controversial problems, and just overall acting like children.
The United States Congress is often described with two words: unproductive and unpopular. As Congress’s approval ratings continue to plummet it has become evident that gridlock plays a major role in voter’s feelings towards congressional productivity. Many voters are beginning to worry that Congress is more broken than ever due to the fact that it seems as if it is no longer able to make even the smallest bipartisan decisions (Binder, 2013). Congress is appearing to seem dysfunctional to the public eye in regard to Congressional responses to many issues including health care and immigration (Todd et al., 2013). Growing partisanship and inability to compromise is seemingly the cause of the ineffectiveness of Congress. Liberals and Conservatives
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.
Nowadays , many people now agree that America has never been or nor had the intention to be purely a democratic nation. Looking from various views of scholars, some have classified America as a federal republic or as a constitutional republic. In facts this is true. A true representation of the framers of the
The three issues of our country that I feel the president could change is terrorism, slavery in other parts of the world, and injustice. These issues are wrong, so the president should change these issues. People deserve to be treated fairly and equally. The terrorism going on is a bad thing. People are starting shootings in other parts of the world. The president could change that too. Slavery in other countries are bad. Everyone deserves to be treated
The article: Climate change and inequality points out the effects on climate change and how it affects the poor. In this case, the effects of climate change have a vast impact on how changes add to or subtract from regional GDP. In addition, Research indicates that not only will climate change add on to a large amount of costs on the American economy, but also that it will inflame inequality.
Thomas Jefferson once wrote in the Declaration of Independence, “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Today, this quote stands tall in defining and describing the type of government the United States has created for the people. A democracy is a supreme power
Over the past few decades, a major concern is the threat climate change possess for today’s economy. Millions of people are affected each and every day by climate change but this is just the beginning of the worst. One thing that seems to go unharmed by climate change is social status; how long will money last as a barrier to the effects of Mother Nature? How does poverty increase the risks associated the devastating powers of climate change? When speaking in terms of poverty many different categories arise. Poverty in America is different than poverty in Asia or Africa. Every country has faced poverty. It is inevitable; some countries however, face a disproportionately high percentage of poverty.