In a true democracy, the people run the government. Now, of course, everyone does not actually run the government, however, the people decide who will. Democracy in the United States seems to be ever changing. In recent years, specifically with the last election, many are left wondering if democracy is still what it was intended to be. The development of democracy in other countries is what led to its development in the United States. Throughout history, one can see evidence of democracy before the constitution was even written.
By definition, a democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them and their elected agents under a free electoral system. Essentially meaning that the government is run by elected officials voted into office by the people, by which they are held accountable for their policies and conduct in office. It is made of up of four basic elements; free and fair elections, the participation of the people, protection of off citizens’ rights, and laws and procedures applied equally to all citizens.
There are two types of democracy that are seen. They are called representative democracy and a direct democracy. Representative democracy is what President Abraham Lincoln describes at “government of the people, for the people, and by the people” in his 1863 Gettysburg Address (Purdy, E, 2017). In a representative democracy, the people elect representatives to run the government and establish policies, whereas, in a direct democracy, individuals vote directly on what changes they want regarding laws and public policy. A director pure democracy is where citizens decide laws, referendums, and can choose or remove government officials who are seemingly ineffective. “it is also quite possible to view direct democracy as an end itself rather than a mere means to achieve conceptually distinct objectives” (Auvinen, T 2016). Though in both a representative and direct democracy citizen, can remove or elect government officials, in a direct democracy the people’s decisions are upheld while in a representative democracy, the people’s decisions are taken under consideration but not always made manifested.
In the United States, a representative democracy is the form of democracy practiced. This is shown in when the citizens of the United States vote for their elected officials. Though the Constitution does not flat out all it a representative republic, it does a good job of spelling this out. In the beginning of the Preamble, it says, “this Constitution” is “ordered and established” by “we the people of the United States”. Article 1, section 2 goes on to say that the House of Representatives shall be composed of “members are chosen every second year by the People of the several states” (Fried, C, 2016). The constitution goes on to discuss the qualifications of the elected officials which include Senators- after the Seventeenth Amendment and goes on to speak about Congress and presidents. Nevertheless, the Constitution only assumes democracy, but never decrees it.
The founding fathers chose this method for several reasons. When the constitution was written it originally left out all who were unable to vote (woman, men without property, slaves). They wanted to create a system where voters do not govern themselves but rather choose a citizen to represent them. The founding fathers wanted men of, course, to run their future nation's policies. The advantage of this is that for the most part, the people can have a representative in office that is of benefit to the nation. These representatives usually speak for the underprivileged and voiceless. The disadvantage to this is that there are many hoops that must be jumped through when a person does a terrible job of representing the people. Often time people are allowed to stay in positions through the people wish to have them removed.
Essentially, democracy is a huge part of the functionality of the United States. Though some would may argue that other forms of government would be more effective. A democracy has seemed to work throughout all these years. Though it was the intentions of their founding fathers to create a system where a man would rule, it has been proven that the people often know what’s best for the people. Which is why democracy has been so successful.