Richard Bellamy's Dissatisfaction With The Ideal Democracy

The larger base of the population has the power to enact a law that could possibly infringe on the rights of the minority group and ignore the interests of the public good. A benefit of Participatory Democracy is the rate at which the government can push out policies and the amount of participation from its citizens in government. The Majoritarian concept of democracy comes with multiple disadvantages. The voices of the smaller factions do not matter if their opinions did not reflect the opinion of the majority. Another problem with a Majoritarian democracy is that the majority of parliament could pass any laws it deemed fit, regardless of the minorities opinion and the court system had no judicial review.

Most people believe that the United States of America is a democracy, or a government run by the voice of the citizens. But this country is actually built on a slightly different principle; one that values the representation of groups more than the whole population as one. A country ruled by the choices of the majority could become an unjust and entirely undemocratic state. The framers of the constitution understood this possibility and worked to limit the power of popular majorities in order to have a fair and equally representative government. Chapter 2, The Constitution and Democracy, states:

In our system of government we are privileged with the option to take part in the political process that runs the country. It is our right to vote that lets the people influence change in policy and set the guidelines that politicians must follow to be elected representatives. This precious ability, which is most coveted in most non-democratic countries, is taken for granted in our own.

Democracy can and never will be the answer for our society, because we would never be able to restrain the violence of human nature, ultimately leading to death and war. The only way we can peacefully preserve ourselves is to erect a common power and give our rights over to someone who can take action on behalf of the whole. This individual would be the sovereign and would govern as the unification of our rights and desires. The sovereign would have no obligations to the subject, but must uphold the subject’s rights. Hobbes states in the Leviathan selection 3, “The obligation of subjects to the sovereign, is understood to last as long, and no longer, than the power lasteth, by which he is able to protect them” (Hobbes, 147). If the rights of the people are violated, the sovereign’s power would become invalid. If we were to give up our right to self-governance, along with everyone else, and sign the social contract, we would be able to achieve a better and more prosperous freedom than Locke under his state of nature.

This means it doesn’t protect the rights of each citizen and his or her property. Also, Democracy is not practical for large countries. In larger countries, there are simply too many people to vote on everything.

Also, the founders had no intention of creating a pure, majority rule democracy. After a careful study of history, they decided that they did not want a pure democracy. A pure democracy has been colorfully described as two wolves and a lamb voting on what 's for dinner! The founding fathers wanted to avoid this at all cost. In addition, this is why there are three branches of government, Executive, Legislative and Judicial. It is why each state has two Senators, regardless of the population, but has different numbers of

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.

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To conclude I feel that although democracy has its obvious flaws like all political systems it is most probably the closest that we have yet achieved in creating a perfectly fair system of shared power. Those who live under a democracy have the responsibility to ensure legitimacy through their active involvement in making decisions by voting and talking to

Ever since the advent of democratic systems of political decision-making in Ancient Greece, one of the primary concerns about democratic functioning has been the principle of majority rule. Whether a majoritarian system is divisive in its essence, paves the way for demagoguery, or obstructs minority groups from having a fair say in public affairs, criticisms of majority rule have and still persist nowadays. Indeed, notorious political figures such as Hamilton, Madison or Mill expressed concerns about the potential threat of a tyranny of the majority which would infringe on citizens’ fundamental rights. Moreover and recently, the outcome of the Brexit referendum has renewed the debate around majority rule and its flaws. However, within the context of the contemporary world in which democracy prevails, majority rule is the norm many states follow. Why is this so; how can majority rule be defended and what are its limits? In order to provide an articulate and coherent answer, it is first necessary to lay down some premises to the functioning of the democratic process. Then, after arguing for majority rule, its flaws shall be assessed before eventually drawing potential alternatives from such dysfunctions.

A weakness of democracy is the “Tyranny of the Majority”. This is an inevitable pitfall, because in a democracy, the power is vested foremost in the people the constituting the society itself. Alexis de Tocqueville wrote on this concept:

The CDP would be used to indentify feasible projects the Urban Local Bodies /Parastatal bodies would be responsible for preparing Detailed Project Reports(DPR) for undertaking projects in identified areas. It is essential that the project planning should optimize the life cycle cost of project keeping in mind the O&M costs and their working conditions requirements in order to see JNNURM assistance projects to have to demonstrate and ensure the life cycle cost over the planning period of the project.

Churchill’s claim that “democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried” is deliberately provocative and intended to challenge the reader’s simplistic ideal that democracy is without faults. There are an estimated 114 democracies in the world today (Wong, Oct 3rd lecture). A figure that has increased rapidly in the last century not necessarily because democracy is the best form of government, but primarily for reason that in practice, under stable social, economic and political conditions, it has the least limitations in comparison to other forms of government. Be it the transparency of a democratic government or the prevalence of majority rule, all subdivisions of democracy benefit and hinder its

Macbeth is a play written by William Shakespeare in the 1606’s. It is a tragical play that talks about the physical and psychological effects of political ambition associated with those who seek power for their benefit. The play is about a young man from Scotland by the name “Macbeth” who received a prophecy from a trio of witches that he will become the King of Scotland one day. Consumed by his selfish ambitions together with his wife’s persuasion, Macbeth killed King Duncan and became the King of Scotland (Shakespeare 32).

Throughout history different types of instrumental regimes have been in tact so civilizations remained structured and cohesive. As humanity advanced, governments obligingly followed. Although there have been hiccups from the ancient times to modern day, one type of government, democracy, has proven to be the most effective and adaptive. As quoted by Winston Churchill, democracy is the best form of government that has existed. This is true because the heart of democracy is reliant, dependent, and thrives on the populaces desires; which gives them the ability for maintaining the right to choose, over time it adjusts and fixes itself to engulf the prominent troubling issues, and people have the right of electing the person they