America 's form of government is not that obvious anymore, nevertheless, one thing is for sure; it is definitely making the idea of democracy, an obscure, abstract version of itself. A Democratic government provides every citizen of legal age with the free and equal right to play a role in a system that elects representatives of the population. It is done so by the majority of people’s votes, which promise to meet their will. America gives the impression to be headed in the orientation of Plutocracy. This special form of government believes that a society should be somewhat governed by its wealthiest members. Over the past decades, the Supreme Court has allowed those who provide ridiculous sums of money to “buy” the elections, rather than the will of the population. Income inequality is still increasing, the middle class is vanishing, and the crazy Republican Party continue to do everything in their power to block raising the minimum wage for what makes the majority of the United States; the hard working Americans. So far, women still don 't make equal pay for equal work, and CEOs make absurd remuneration, while workers are sadly forced for greater productivity and for far less money. Rich people are getting richer, while the poor (or working-class) are barely living from paycheck to paycheck. So, does this form of government respond to our interests? It would be hard to believe so.
The founders who wrote the constitution of the United States shared a passionate
belief,
Discuss briefly the American tradition of representative government. Is representative government as strong as it was when the Constitution was formed?
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.
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.
Over 200 years ago the United States’ Founding Fathers created a unique system of government that allowed a balance to exist between both the federal government and the separate state governments. Through the three branches of government, specifically the executive and legislative branches, the United States has been able to act as a unified body with several varying individual parts. With the executive branch and the legislative branch each having outlined powers of their own the Founders were able to equally balance the power of the national government and the state governments. Although this system has managed to stay in tact for two centuries and has allowed the United States of America to become a dominate player in international affairs, there has consistently been a battle of power between the president in the executive branch and the two houses of congress in the legislative branch. As the United States continues to evolve and face multiple obstacles, so does the relationship between these two branches.
I believe the five pathways for change were put here to guide us in becoming a more efficient government and to give different examples of how to go about change in America. All of the pathways are important but to me the most important is the lobbying decision makers’ pathway. “Lobbyists are said to be advocates, someone who represents a specific side of an issue. According to Thomson Gale Legal Encyclopedia, A lobbyist and a lawyer have similar attributes whereas the lobbyist targets the legislative point of view and the lawyer targets the judicial point of view. Lawyers provide facts on different perspectives on legal issues dealing with the case; And lobbyist offer local, state, and federal
The Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia (1967) resulted in the striking down of state laws that prohibited whites and African Americans from marrying. Mildred Loving, one of the parties in the case, issued a statement on the fortieth-anniversary of her case in which she urged that same-sex couples be allowed to marry.
Very little clothing is required. There is very little pressure, very little rush, and very little reminiscent of the world. The Cancun area is undeniably a fabulous place to take a vacation. It has luxurious hotels, exciting activities, and mysterious sightseeing tours.
The American government is known to promote democratic values throughout the world. Though the ideals America was fighting for during the Cold War, the government still managed to participate in the overthrow of democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammed Mossadegh. Mossadegh threatened to nationalize Iran’s oil in 1951 and later gained the support of the Iranian government. The British companies had many investments in Iranian oil. It is with the approval of nationalization that the economies of both British and Iran were ultimately harmed. The British government requested the help of the US so that they could perform a coup to overthrow Mossadegh. With suspicions of Mossadegh supporting communism, and being supported by the Tudeh Party, the United States government was willing to sacrifice their democratic ideologies and credibility in the region for the insurance of an anti-communist leader. This would prove to cause problems that still resonate in today’s political and military negotiations in this region.
Although opiates can relieve pain and improve quality of life temporarily, the opioid epidemic is becoming a widespread problem all over the United States. Opioids are drugs acting on the nervous system to relieve, but continued use can lead to physical dependence and withdrawal systems leading to opioid abuse. This includes codeine, morphine, oxycodone, fentanyl used daily by healthcare professionals. We need to realize that this is a more difficult problem to address if no one understands how it affects individuals. Why is this important?
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America...and to the republic for which it stands...one nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.” (“Is the United States a Democracy?”) The United States’ pledge is taught to children of all ages, plays an active role in the patriotism of the people, and it symbolizes the citizen’s promise to never violate the Republic of the United States of America. The founding fathers built the foundation of America on their ideological belief that the country should be a republic and that all mankind are created equally. However, over the years, America has gained the title as a democratic nation and the status quo of America being considered “the majority rule.” The present state of affairs of the American government proves to be incorrect because the United States is not a democracy. The United States has limited citizens to participate equally on various occasions, due to the emphasis the government has placed on non-democratic practices, inconsistencies, and discrimination regarding race, gender, and ethnicity.
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.
The structure of our American Government was founded in the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution was written to be the “supreme law of the land,” and produces a democratic republic, where citizens govern themselves (Our American Government, n.d). The purpose of our government, is to “establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and our posterity” (Our American Government, n.d.). For our country to accomplish this purpose our Founding Fathers created three principles, “inherent rights, self-government, and separation of powers” (Our American Government, n.d.). The government was developed to ensure order in society and protect its citizens, but with all systems, there is strengths and weakness, let’s examine those strengths and weakness. Let’s first look at the strength and weakness of the U.S. Constitution.
The government plays a major role on how we, as americans function on a day to day basis. They tell us what we can and cannot do, in doing so providing peace and a stable society. However at what point does our government start becoming to oppressive for the sake of the country, thankfully by analysing texts such as declaration of independence, the Bill of Rights and some accounts by Abigail Adams it seems that we have found a good middle ground between too much control and too little. Before we were a country we were a part of The British Crown. After we were sent to investigate and colonies this new land from the west we the parliament of Britain started to pose unfair taxes and laws against the colonists that were sent to america after we
The United States government system is very interesting and complexly designed. The state and federal government is a mirror of each other when it comes to the generics of the executive branch, legislative branch, and judicial branch, however, internally the state government has major differences on how the branches are conducted. Throughout this paper we will discuss the greatest difference between state and federal, which is the state cannot change or remove laws passed by the federal government but they could change how they execute the federal laws to their liking as long as it is constitutional.
Are beauty pageants degrading and objectifying towards women? Organizers set policies, rules, and standards which falsely dictate a woman’s worth, based on their decisions and actions along with physical beauty. These contests also objectify women’s bodies as a form of public entertainment. Most importantly, the management of these pageants distorts women’s minds from a young age to strive to fit in a stereotype based on their physical appearance and femininity. Beauty pageants degrade and objectify women by portraying them as symbols of entertainment based on standards of physical beauty which unrighteously determine their worth as a person.