Democracy in The United States - Bri Stevens PDF

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Democracy in The United States Brionna Stevens College of Humanities & Social Sciences, Grand Canyon University GOV-140: American Government & Politics Dr. Keith Blackley September 20,2020

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Democracy in The United States Democracy is a form of government for the entire population or for all eligible members of society, which uses elected officials to stand for certain groups of people. In democracy, there are also competitive elections held, the principles of being equal both politically and legally, and civil liberties. But, there are two types of democracies, representative democracy and direct democracy. Democracy is shown in two forms, representative and direct. Representative democracy is a government system in which representatives are elected and in charge of representing all the citizens in their district or state. Direct democracy is the system of government in which public policies are made directly by the people, not by elected representatives. In both types of democracies, they rely on the voting of all eligible citizens and they both have restrictions on who can vote. When it comes to representative democracy, the majority of citizens elect representatives to address the merits of a law change and cast their votes according to their own conscience, even though their conscience is opposite to the will of those they represent. The legislation or Congress is voted in ,because they had similar views to the majority of the citizens voting, When it comes to direct democracy, the candidate voted for by the majority of voters wins, and then the majority directly passes proposals into law. It is also considered a “pure democracy” ,because the citizens directly vote to pass laws or express issues that are affecting them. While both types of government systems are different types of democracies, they are also shown within the United States. Within the United States, you know that the country is run off of democracy. The type of democracy can be difficult since we can see that is both types of democracy shown within the country. The form of democracy practiced in the US is definitely representative democracy.

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Within the Constitution, it says in Article I, about the voting of Representatives and Senators of Congress. It also explains how these positions are filled with candidates that the majority of citizens vote for. Also in the constitution you can see in Article II, that there needs to be an electoral college who takes the majority vote of people to basis their decision on who to vote for as the president. For example, the majority of the citizens in Iowa vote for the democractic candidate for that election. Then, the electoral college uses those votes to base their decision on who to vote for. The Founding Fathers, who wrote the constitution to be representative democracy. The Founding Fathers of the United States, wrote the Constitution to be a representative democracy system of government ,because it was against everything they fought during the revolutionary war against Britain. The Constitution was at first to correct the failures of the Articles of Confederation. It was also used to get away from monarchy, because they just fought against them and wanted a different way to run the country. The Founding Fathers wanted the government to limit each other. In each branch they have certain powers of what they can do and limiting powers to be able to keep a balance between the branches. They framed the government into 3 branches, Executive, Judicial ,and Legislative, to make, enforce,and interpret laws voted on by the people and agreed on by elected officials. They also allowed states to govern themselves, while still under the central government. The Founding Fathers also wanted there to be a way to represent the people. They had certain people be eligible to vote, so that only citizens would vote in the election and that they still had somewhat of a control over the central government. The requirements for voting are legal United States citizens, 18 years of age, and must not be a convicted fellow. Even though the United States is a democractic country, there are still many advantages and disadvantages of using representative democracy.

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When it comes to representative democracy, it has many advantages and also many disadvantages. Representative democracy can be highly effective when run correctly ,because it allows there to be checks and balances so that no group dominates another. It also allows all citizens to participate in decision making in government. The people also still have a voice that is heard by their representatives that they voted for. It also allows for the decision making in government to be simplified ,because the majority helps influence the representatives decision on whether it is voting for a presidential candidate or voting for a law to be put in place. Even with these advantages the disadvantages still take a toll on how well representative democracy works. In representative democracy there is usually no clear majority due to the political parties in America. The political parties make it difficult to please all citizens, which also makes it difficult to get anything productive done in government. Once a representative is chosen by the citizens who vote them in, there must be a level of trust between the people and representative. The representative was chosen ,because they had similar views to the people in their district or state and they want to be represented according to that. Even if there is “trust”, after the vote is taken the elected representative can be deceptive and push for their own personal agenda. Even though it is a type of democracy, the majority still rules over the expense of the minority. This means that the majority vote is what is needed to make decisions and help implement laws and policies.

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References Coleman, M. (n.d.). The Meaning of Democracy. Retrieved September 20, 2020, from https://dlc.dcccd.edu/usgov1-1/the-meaning-of-democracy The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription. (2020, May 4). Retrieved September 19, 2020, from https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript Gaille, L. (2019, December 16). 13 Advantages and Disadvantages of Representative Democracy. Retrieved September 20, 2020, from https://vittana.org/13-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-representative-democracy M, E. (2011, July 27). Difference Between Direct and Representative Democracy. Retrieved September 19, 2020, from http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/politics/difference-between-direct-a nd-representative-democracy/...