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Weaknesses Of Democracy

Decent Essays

The United States government has remained strong for several years now. However, like any institution, it has its strengths and its own weaknesses as well. Some of the current threats to democracy in the United States lies with: political campaigns, polarization, and economic inequality. Although the United States remains strong as an institution, changes must be made to improve democratic governance. The first problem with political campaigns lies with the 501c4 Social Welfare Organizations (SWO). SWO’s have become even more important than Political Action Committees (PAC), Super PACs, or 527 Committee Political Organizations. Citizens United vs Federal Election Commission (FEC) paved the way for SWOs to receive money from undisclosed donors to campaign. Additionally, SWOs are not regulated by the Federal Elections Commissions (FEC) but by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The difference in regulation has allowed SWOs to create campaign ads with less restrictions than any other organization. If SWOs do not use the “magic words” (vote for, elect, support, cast your ballot for, so and so for congress, vote against, defeat, and reject) in their ads, they are able to say anything. The film—Big Sky, Big Money—illustrates how despite the restrictions, SWO remain extremely active during campaigns. Furthermore, the ads are often false. SWOs impact on the election serves to impact voter turnout as well as the election. Furthermore, social media has become another problem for

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