Should Corporations Be Allowed On The Government?

During local, state, or federal election there is a limited amount of time and information that a voter has to help him/her decide for which candidate he or she wants to vote. Before the ruling in Citizens United v FEC, private donations from voters were needed to provide candidates with financial means to create commercials, billboards, etc. In turn, this gave the voters a voice in who is to lead their government. Corporations were limited in the amount they could provide to their candidate of choice. After the ruling, corporations can now match every private donation and contribute an unlimited amount on top of that in order to support their candidate. This creates a problem because a corporation can potentially suffocate voters with campaign ads without the other candidates' ads being heard. Therefore creating an uneven debate and platform for Democracy to work.

Corporate advantage is often times very controversial in government, from funding candidates with money, to swaying the mind of the voters, to making PACs and superPACs; this topic is not at rest with the F.E.C. or other government programs or agencies. In this case we see “Citizens United” ,a special interest group, fight with the F.E.C. about this advantage and the right to set restrictions on spending money for the purpose of engaging in political speech. In a 5-4 decision, Some may think that the court ruled correctly on corporate expenditures ; yet lots of people think that this advantage is corrupt, here’s why.

What is democracy, do we really understand the concept and the implications of the freedoms that our society enjoys. Democracy by definition is a “government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections”.(1) The United States democracy in current times can be a difficult situation to grasp, due to the fact that we are operating off of the Constitution written over 200 years ago, and individuals modern

Democracy, a form of government where significant power is vested in the people and the people exercise their power by electing representatives or exercise their power directly by themselves via assembly. The U.S. Constitution was once considered to be Democratic – however – after an examination of the 3 branches of government the U.S. Constitution has some seemingly undemocratic attributes. There are features in all 3 branches that makes the U.S. Constitution seem undemocratic. The Executive Branch is undemocratic in the presidential election, specifically the Electoral College. The Legislative Branch is undemocratic in the Senatorial and House of Representative representation of the states. Lastly, the Judicial Branch is undemocratic due to its power of Judicial Review and the appointment process of new judges. Nevertheless, despite these features, I do not believe the U.S. Constitution should be truly classified as an undemocratic government.

It seems implausible the word democracy isn't written in the United States Constitution, or in the Constitution's Preamble, or even in the Declaration of Independence. One would assume a concept so paramount to modern American culture would surely be derivative from one of it's oldest and most endeared documents. Alas, it is not. The Constitution only specifically mentions two entities, the government and “We the People”. Defining government is an easy enough task, but who are “We the People”? From originally consisting of only white male property owners, to eventually adding in other races, income classes, women, and astonishingly, corporations, the definition of “We the People” has evolved numerous times. The word corporation is another key term the architects of our government failed to define for us, perhaps that is why it found it's way into the phrase “We the People”. A grave dilemma lies in this fallible defining of terms. Granting corporations person-hood legislatively shifts the power of democracy from human interests to corporate interests. This corrosion of human interest can clearly be noted when examining the grasps for corporate power highlighted in the court cases of Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby, Citizens United v. Federal Election, and United States v. Sourapas and Crest Beverage Company.

The definition of democracy is a system of government in which the power vested in the people.This means that the government allows the people to make decisions Many people think that the U.S is pure democracy. However it’s proven not to be truly a democracy.

The word democracy comes from two Greek words: demos, meaning "the people," and kratein, meaning "to rule." These two words are joined together to form a democracy, literally meaning "rule by the people". Nowadays democracy could be referred as a rule of the majority. It is a system of government in which the citizens exercise power directly or choose delegates from among themselves to form a governing body, such as a parliament. The Greek system of government was maybe more like a true democracy or administered by the general population than any other ever. On the other hand, most American politicians with mindfulness and knowledge have realized that the U.S. is not a Democracy as a country, regardless of the way that most people declare it to be a Democracy. Greek and American democracy have some similarities such as the amount of nationalism and patriotism saw in the people when a lack of representation for a city-state or nation as a whole is seen, and they both vote for their political leaders.

There is no doubt that the United States of America is a democracy, but how democratic are some of the components of our system of government? For example, the Electoral College is used when selecting the president of The United States, but the founders developed the Electoral College based on a theory of how it should work with no practical, real-world example of how it realistically works. Based on the three core principles of democracy which are popular sovereignty, political equality, and political freedom, the Electoral College falls short when assessed using these democratic values.

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

The word democracy elicits different perceptions from different people. Some may see democracy as only a government ruled directly by the people, in which the people write and choose laws directly. Others may include representative democracy in which representatives are chosen by the people to write, pass, and enforce laws. It is the latter view that would best describe America. In this sense, America is not a pure democracy, and few would ever say it was founded as one. However, the question remains: Is America a democracy. Though America as a whole has few direct ways for people to participate in the writing and enforcement of most laws, I would venture to say that American government should be considered a democracy. Indeed, democratic elements pervade the American political structure. The American republic would not be what it is without the necessary democratic elements that are used in the execution of governing.

The United States is no longer the democracy it stands for. Democracy stands for a government controlled by the majority of the population. The United States is no longer controlled by the majority. America is controlled by the powerful corporations and rich elite. The combination of an uninformed, disinterested public, a flawed election process, and an economy controlled by 1% of the population have all led to the formation of the American Oligarchy.

One of the issues I am most passionate about is that of money in American politics. Increasing campaign costs, coupled with a decrease in the number of donors contributing to those campaigns, is a disturbing trend which has caused many to feel the need to question the state of our democracy—myself included. The problem of mainstream political corruption and legalized bribery is one that I was made aware of three years ago, and has since become one of the things keeping me up at night most often.

In America, we pride ourselves on being a democracy and having choices, when in fact, it is only a political illusion. In the Constitution of the United States (which we are all held accountable to abide by), it states that we are a republic with regard to the people’s desire to be a democracy, yet there is much evidence that leans towards America being an oligarchy. While a republic is a country which elects representatives to make government decisions on their behalf, an oligarchy is a system in which a small group of people controls the country. The debate of American being an oligarchy assumes that elites have power in many aspects of government, such as the Electoral College and the election process,

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.

Government should not be run like a business because a system that was established to protect and ensure the public good should always put equity before efficiency. Government is inherently different from business, and therefore should run differently.