America: A True Democracy?

America: A True Democracy?

Today we often hear the United States government described as a democracy, where the power is given to the people. However, some may claim that our government has too much control over the people or that the people do not have enough of a say in political events. In order to see whether or not America has a truly democratic government, it is necessary to know the other types of government.

There are a few reasons why the United States government is not a democracy. While citizens can elect members of Congress and the President, there are many more people in the government. These workers are not elected and are part of a bureaucracy. Also, there is the issue of economic inequality. In recent elections, most of the candidates running for office are in the upper class. Other members of the upper class, such as Bill Gates, have much more of an impact than the average American. Wealthy corporation owners can fund presidential campaigns and sway opinions. However, the United States still supports democratic ideals, like the freedoms listed in the Constitution's Bill of Rights.

In a monarchy, one ruler has absolute rule over a nation. With America's three branches of government (legislative, executive, and judicial), it is clear that the president does not have this kind of authority. As discussed in class, President Barack Obama did have the power to enact a healthcare reform, but his lack of power prevented him from changing immigration laws. Monarchies are heavily tradition-based and have fallen out of favor in the modern age. Nowadays there are constitutional monarchies, where the monarch is a figurehead but the real power lies in elected officials. This form of government is seen in Great Britain.

Another type of government is authoritarianism, where people are not allowed to participate in the nation's government. This government exists in counties such as Oman and Saudi Arabia, but is not present in the United States because the people get to vote on elections. Authoritarian states are the reason for many rebellions, such as the recent Middle East events.

An even more oppressive form of government is totalitarianism, which regulates peoples' lives in addition to those people having no say in the government. To show how different this is from the United States government, the people in North Korea were forced to lament over their fallen leader Kim Jong-Il or receive dire consequences. Totalitarian governments also extensively monitor citizens as well as visitors. However, not all of these regimes have been communistic, as evidenced by the fascist Nazi Germany.

The final main type of government is the republic, where people elect representatives to run the government. This is close to the United States government, however people still have the power to not re-elect certain representatives. Thus, our government is best classified as a democratic republic. As citizens, we have a say in who we elect with the ballet box, but are not running the government ourselves.

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/100000/north-korea-kim-jong-il-adam-johnson-orphan-masters-son
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/11/01/is-america-a-democracy-or-a-republic/