Pros And Cons Of Participatory Democracy

Charles Quiqly, Executive Director for the Center for Civic Education, has dubbed the current status of the United States to be in a ‘civic recession’. This ‘recession’ is in response to a lack of not monetary capital but of engaged democratic participants. David Mathews, president of the Kettering Foundation, also coined the paradoxical phrase, ‘a citizenless democracy’ (National Task Force, 2012). In a time where the United States ranks 139th out of the 172 world democracies in voter participation, the U.S. needs to reinvent the engaged, contributing citizen within society (McCormick Tribune Foundation,

Political inactivity on the part of young Americans stems from one fundamental source -- a general cynicism of the American political process. This disdain for politics is further perpetuated by a lack of voter education and a needlessly archaic voting procedure that creates barriers to voting where they need not exist. While many of these existing problems can be rectified with relative ease through the implementation of programs such as Internet voting and better voter education, such programs create only a partial solution.

America’s democracy is an important part of our history and what has made this country what it is today. There are many pros and cons in relation to how our country is run when it concerns the U.S. Constitution. Something that is important is that America is how the framers came up with the idea of what democracy is to help this nation to succeed and to help provide a good model to be followed throughout the world. There are different parts of our government which has powers yet they must consult with the other powers before following through and executing their proposals. Another factor that has played an important role in the development of our American democracy is where there is a big separation of government and religion. Our American democracy has our U.S. Constitution which relies on the three branches of government where the political parties have candidates which are voted into office. This paper will discuss how federalism is incorporated into our Constitution and what the purpose is in having three branches of government, the reason behind having the political parties and how this is incorporated into our American Democracy.

Additionally to television, many political figures including Barrack Obama use social networking as a way to reach American citizens. Social networking is practically a right of passage among youth today. Political influences are in all types of media. Any young person that uses social networking or watches television is choosing to not pay attention to politics. “It would be reading too much into such responses to say that these two-thirds of young Americans didn’t value voting; they could well have seen voting as a fundamental right or a crucial choice. Nevertheless, without a

"You don 't get the chance to make America great by getting rid of everything that made America great,” Stated by Hillary Clinton during her campaign rally in St. Louis, Missouri to attack candidate Donald Trump from his previous diverse rhetoric. Political Rhetoric has been very popular in today’s society. Politics use this as a platform to criticize other candidates about important points that are essential to the United States and its citizens. Not only does others believe that political rhetoric is out of control but it is a negative form of art. During election time, the media and the internet are critical for candidates because it gives them easy access to the younger audience. Although social media is enormous in today’s society, this is the best way for young voters to make their voices heard. Scott Keeter a research analyst and exit poll analyst for NBS News stated that “Young voters have given the Democratic Party a majority of their votes, and for all three cycles they have been the party’s most supportive age group” (Keeter, 1). According to U.S. Census Bureau over the course of time the rate of younger voters “Dropped from 50.9% percent in 1964 to 38.0 percent in 2012” (U.S. Census Bureau, 2).However, the media continue to evolve with modern society. I believe that rhetoric such as visual political rhetoric helps the youth to get more involved with the political arguments while being educated and entertained at the same time.

I also believe that representative democracy will be the best choice because of the large population of people living in the United State. It will be impossible for every citizen to vote on all issues and law consider by local, state, and federal government. What if a citizen considers that an issues that is on the ballet is not important to him or her, will she or he take the time to educate themselves on the issue to make the right choice or will they guess or will they not bother in voting because is to complex? In my opinion that is why a representative of the people is best to serve on behalf of the citizen.

The media has never had the extreme omnipresence it had during the most recent federal elections. For more and more people the media is becoming something habitual, and politicians were among the first to take advantage of this fact. Be it a parties usage of online social platforms, 24-hour news broadcasting stations, or circa the 1800s printed word, there is no doubt the typical citizen feels connected in some regards to this mass of media. With most third-party communication technologies surfacing within the recent decades, the general affect on citizens ' lives is not fully understood. This connection is immense and complex, but it can

The United States of America believes in democracy demonstrated by freedom of land and people. The word democracy means the citizens rule (xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx). A democracy is created when the people of that country are the overseers of the government demonstrated through elections and representation. Sometimes the democracy in particular the freedom of speech promotes an overflow of complaints from some citizens of America. However, this is the pros and cons of democracy and its wavering balance. Clearly, since the Athens Greece, democracy has been around. Researchers report democracy has been around for more than 2500 years (xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx). In the 1700’s, the United States of America laid the groundwork and became a democracy. Moreover, true democracies can be displayed in two formats, direct and representative

The word Democracy is is defined as a form of government in which the people hold the power and display this power when they elect politicians to make their decisions. A direct Democracy is the most purely democratic form of government because the people actually rule. This means people can physically voice what they want and not have their words lost because thousands of voices are being represented by one man. When people directly vote for what they want, their opinions are best voiced this way. A weakness of the government is the people who are more active in the government will have a greater say than those who are not as active.

Over time the United States has been molded by new technology, and American politics were no exception. Throughout history the political process in the United States has been greatly altered by advancements in technology; mail, radio, and television(elements in a series) have all shaped the way the public sees politicians in monumental ways. Recently a new factor has made its mark on American politics: social media. The use of social media by politicians and citizens has had repercussions that echo throughout the political sphere. The introduction of social media altered the landscape of American politics forever. Now more than ever before, it is harder to find the truth and even easier to hide from

Many times I do not really pay attention to the presidential elections mainly because I myself had been too young in the past to vote. But this year is my year. I finally have a chance to have a hand in the decision of our nation’s leader. But this election has a different sort of edge. This edge being the effect of social media. Parts of rallies and debates are being broadcasted via social networks which are allowing people all over the world to have input on what is going on.

As technology continues to advance over time, political parties are able to further advance their operations. The use of social media on politics in our society has impacted all Americans; regardless of their party. One of these impacts is that technology has created a fundamental flow of communication, which, as a result, makes it easier for the candidates to persuade their party. An example of this communication would be things such as, but not limited to: newspapers, television and even twitter. During this election year, if a viewer is watching television, they are guaranteed to see at least one commercial promoting a candidates belief, in order for viewers to gain knowledge and opinion on the stance of each party.

On September 26, 2016, 84 million people tuned in to the most watched debate in American history (Battaglio). 84 million of the 135 million people who are estimated to vote in the United States’ 2016 presidential election fulfilled their citizen duties on becoming aware of the candidates’ policies in order to make an informed decision when voting happens in November (Battaglio). About 60% of estimated voters watched the raw debate so where will the rest of the voters get their information from? They will most likely watch the morning or evening news the next day but the problem is that the news will not be covering the hard facts of the debate. They will be talking about how many times Trump interrupted Clinton, Clinton’s ‘robotic’ answers, and possibly even update us on Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s divorce. The viewers will miss out on being informed about important issues such as tax policies and wage gaps that Americans face everyday. They are going to be informing us on things that grab our attention, things that will raise their viewership and make them more money. News outlets are now entertainment driven. As Al Gore points out in The Assault of Reason, the idea of celebrification of the news negatively affected our public sphere in 2007 and continues to harm the public sphere today. As a result, the public sphere is worse off today than in 2007.

Over the years the media has made citizens major role players in politics. Ross Perot opened eyes by putting the 1992 Election in the media and thereby allowing voters to become directly involved in politics. The Internet, the new form of mass media “has turned into a major political and media industry” (Grossman 16). Because of the rise the Internet has taken, the idea of direct democracy has risen. The foundation of direct democracy is in self-government. The claim is that the presence of the Internet will increase citizens’ involvement in political issues by allowing them access to more information. This is significant because it takes a look at the impact of technology on society and politics, as well by

Several forms of government have been formed since the development of centralized power. The form of government that has showed the most international growth in the last century is democracy. There are currently over 160 democracies in the world today. These democracies, however, are not complete democracies. They are representative democracies that have been created by the leaders of our predominantly patriarchal international system. Due to this, many citizens of these democracies are considered second class citizens and their views are not heard by their supposedly democratic society. A solution to this problem is participatory democracy. Participatory democracy is better than the existing patriarchal society because it allows the