...Critical Response on Democracy DeVry University Political Science 330 July 16, 2011 Democracy when looked at as a system of government is when power is vested in the people who rule either directly or indirectly through freely elected officials. (democracy. (n.d.) The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition, n.d). There are certain criteria and conditions that must be place in order for a government to be considered democratic. In a democratic society the government will get its power form the people that it is to govern over. The people will elect representatives who are given the responsibility of being their voice in the state capital or countries capital. The representative’s job is to make sure they are trying to do what is in the best interest of the people that they represent. This way is called a representative democracy. The representatives under this type of representation are allowed to be in office for a specific period of time through elections. When they have completed the set term they were elected for then they must step down or try to stay in office by seeking re-election. (Dr. Almon Leroy Way, n.d.). Today you have current events that provide evidence of democracy at work in America. Looking at 2006 and 2007, our economy started to collapse and you could see that the American public as a whole was not happy with the direction of the economy and the government. They had grown weary of the War in Iraq and the drain on America’s...
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...Alexander Hamilton: The Founding Father of Elite Democracy In America today, there is a constant battle going on that is unbeknownst to the general public. It has been going on in America since the foundations of this country. However, the weapons in this war are not guns; it is the political influence that won this kind of war. The war is between the two types of democracy, elite and popular. Popular democracy is defined as, “a political system in which the people are involved as much as possible in making the decisions that affect their lives” (Miroff). On the other hand, elite democracy is defined as, “a political system in which elites acquire the power to decide by a free and fair competition for the people’s votes (Miroff).” The two types of democracy contradict each other, and since the founding of the country has been struggling to gain an edge over the other. However, in the United States, this started with the Federalists, who supported elite democracy, and the Anti-Federalists, who supported popular democracy. The Federalist Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison were put against the Anti-Federalist Samuel Adams, James Monroe, and Thomas Jefferson. Alexander Hamilton was a...
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...In the concluding statement of his essay, William states: “Maybe we are learning again to cherish this right of every person to succeed on his own terms and to fail as often as necessary along the way.” This demonstrates to me that the American Dream is alive and well to all those with the peripheral vision to see the many possibilities still within the grasp of Americans flexible enough to go over, under, around, or even through the often self-imposed barriers we put in front of ourselves. And failing only means that one try and try again, before modifying the goal to our advantage, instead of repeatedly pounding our collective heads against the wall and expecting a different, more traditionally successful result. Similarly, in Barack Obama's keynote address, the description of his life’s journey supports my thesis of the American Dream being alive and well. In the speech, he states: “In no other country on Earth, is my story even possible.” when referring to himself and his family's remarkable achievements. Saying this, he gives self-evident proof from his own life that the American Dream is still attainable through hard work and that every child in America with big ears, a Punahou, Columbia, Harvard (or possibly Yale) education, and a supportive extended family, can one day grow up to be...
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...Decline of Democracy in America The founding fathers didn’t create a democracy because they thought it would work perfectly. They didn’t give people the right to vote so that everyone would find true happiness. They knew better than to create a utopia where everyone had their own white picket fence, went to church on Sunday and lead lives as model citizens. They understood that toes would get stepped on, feelings would get hurt and sacrifices would happen. The founding fathers didn’t start a revolution to make people happy, they started a revolution because they believed in the idea that everyone had the right to equality. They founded America on the belief that hard work will lead to prosperity in the land of opportunity. All the ideas we associate with America: capitalism, the free market, education, elections, these all came about because people wanted to have power over where their life took them. Being able to make decisions in your own interest: the founding fathers based America on that principal, and they structured the government so it would protect those interests. Today, this is not the case. Although it may appear that America has come a long way since the civil and women’s rights movement, increasing inequality and discrimination in the 21st century has created a democracy that no longer represents the interests of its constituents but its ruling elite. Despite people’s preconceptions that our society represents...
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...century American foreign policy consisted mainly of isolationist tendencies. However, two factors quickly pushed America into foreign affairs. America was rapidly expanding its power and the international system centered on Europe began to crash. Until Wilson became president American foreign policy was aimed at fulfilling manifest destiny and to staying free of problems abroad. American diplomacy reflected Wilson’s Basic view of world power by helping spread democratic structure to other nations. It wasn’t perfect though and thus rejected his views of some post WWI thoughts such as the League of Nations. Woodrow Wilson, born Dec 28, 1856, served as President of Princeton University and then became Governor of New Jersey in 1910. He was elected president in 1912 as a democrat when Taft and Roosevelt divided up the republican vote. In the first few years as president Wilson concentrated on anti-trust measures and reorganizing the federal banking system. After being narrowly re-elected Wilson concentrated on World War I. He tried to sustain US neutrality but failed and later asked Congress to declare war. Wilson also played a major role in the post-war period attempting to create the League of Nations and such. President Wilson’s views on foreign policy have been seen as great by some and horrible by others. Wilson fought hard to help spread democracy and in some cases succeeded. Wilson introduced the term “moral diplomacy” to the West which attempted to spread influence...
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...What is Federalism? As a country that is more than 200 years old, the United States of America has become known as the cornerstone of democracy within the world today. When the forefathers of the country came together to create what would become the democratic government today, they instilled a number of political values that are still functioning today. Federalism is one of these ideas. While it has its roots in Colonial America and beyond, it still has a place and can be seen in this country in 2014. The Cornell University School of Law defines Federalism in the following way: “Federalism is a system of government in which the same territory is controlled by two levels of government” (Cornell, 2014). In basic terms this means that the country's government is broken up into parts that handle various levels of concern. For example, the United States of America has developed a government that functions on the local, state and federal level. Since the layout of the government is broken into these three sections, then American can be considered an example of a country that is run by Federalist principles. With that in mind, there are a number of examples of how this ideal, which can be considered dated, is still functioning within the world today. The development of a federalist type of government allows the national level to deal with issues of national concern, while the states tend to deal with issues within their own borders. “The U.S. Constitution grants the federal...
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...Society (Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1989). “Society not only exists by transmission, by communication, but it may fairly be said to exist in transmission, in communication.” — Dewey The most important single change in human consciousness in the last century, and especially in the American consciousness, has been the multiplying of the means and forms of what we call “communication.” Modern communications have drastically altered the ordinary terms of experience and consciousness, the ordinary structures of interest and feeling, the normal sense of being alive, of having a social relation. Technological extensions and resettlement could never unload the instincts and necessities of an ancient past outside history. We remained possessed by that which we no longer quite possessed: rituals and narratives that are in the strict sense anthropological. Democracies are limited to range of foot and tongue. America is an oral democracy. Reading the news is a dramatic ritual act. [The news is ] not information but a...
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...lic office, was based on the premise that powerful states had to be prevented from overstepping their bounds. The press working independently of government, even as its freedoms were guaranteed by the state, was supposed to help ensure that this was so. The 1980s and 1990s saw the revival of this centuries‐old notion and its application especially to “transition societies” then emerging from the ruins of socialist and authoritarian regimes. It had resonance among citizens facing pervasive corruption, weak rule of law, and predatory or incompetent governments unable to deliver basic services. Today even in countries where democracy is a fairly new experiment or even in those, like China, where democracy and a free press have yet to take root, the notion of the press as watchdogs of power is embedded in the self‐definition of journalists1 and in varying degrees, also in public expectations of the media. It is, moreover, a particularly seductive notion to the international donor...
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...Marx argues that the lower classes, whether slaves, peasants or the proletariat, are being deceived into religion because it is used as a tool encouraged by people in power to maintain their full control economically and politically. He finds that economically, politically and socially deprived people are the ones that tend to seek religion to deal with their cruel conditions, not realizing that these conditions should not be accepted, and that they should fight for their deserved equality. In this sense, with religion, even with philosophers insights' on religion, people of lower classes will not be able to achieve equality unless they change their society's reality as Marx indicates that "the philosophers have only interpreted the world in...
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...The Age of Exploration took place in the 1400’s to the 1700’s. These voyages took place because they wanted to acquire money, fame, and spread Christianity. Christopher Columbus was driven from competition to make his voyage in 1492. He sailed west across the Atlantic to look for a quicker trade route to Asia. He did not reach Asia, but instead found the Caribean. After his voyage more countries began to send explorers to the Americas in order to claim land for the mother country and make money. Ferdinand Magellan made the courageous exploration in 1519 and was the first person to circumnavigate the world. This was a very important discovery because it proved that the world was not flat and that there was more land to be explored. European explorers from the Age of Exploration should continue to be celebrated because they spread their culture, brought trade, and advanced the developments...
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...lic office, was based on the premise that powerful states had to be prevented from overstepping their bounds. The press working independently of government, even as its freedoms were guaranteed by the state, was supposed to help ensure that this was so. The 1980s and 1990s saw the revival of this centuries‐old notion and its application especially to “transition societies” then emerging from the ruins of socialist and authoritarian regimes. It had resonance among citizens facing pervasive corruption, weak rule of law, and predatory or incompetent governments unable to deliver basic services. Today even in countries where democracy is a fairly new experiment or even in those, like China, where democracy and a free press have yet to take root, the notion of the press as watchdogs of power is embedded in the self‐definition of journalists1 and in varying degrees, also in public expectations of the media. It is, moreover, a particularly seductive notion to the international donor...
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...Andrew Jackson is believed to be one of the most evil presidents of America. He unethically forced multiple Native American tribes to leave their homeland onto what is now Oklahoma Territory. This movement was called the Trail of Tears. Jackson also ended the second bank of America because he thought that was what his supporters wanted. On the other hand, he was a people’s president and he gave people of the lower class a voice. Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act forced many Native American’s out of their homes onto an unknown land and they were not even promised to make it alive. This route was called the Trail of Tears due to the amount of torture Native Americans were forced to endure. Native Americans were given two choices, to either...
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...Henry Brousseau AS Studies Option 1 America As the World’s Humanitarian Watchdog “Inmates who gave birth to babies were forced to kill them,” said one survivor of a concentration camp. “Inmates who were pregnant usually gave birth to dead babies, but there was one case when the baby was born alive.” She continued, “So we were watching this baby and we were so happy. But suddenly we heard footsteps. The security agent came and told us to put the baby in the water upside down,” she recounted. This behavior was usual. Prison guards would beat people with clubs, and “they would beat you, kick you on the thighs. You can’t stand, you can’t sleep. And you are hanged like this for three, four days.” Prisoners were forced to eat mice and other...
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...socio-economic development; It undermines the development of modern states; They hoped that modernization of the Third World would lead to gradual decline of religion from public life; eventual disappearance of religion; That did not happen; Religion is very much alive; It remains part of politics. Dependency theorists view religion as unimportant; Give it only an occasional footnote in their writings; They blame colonial powers for having used religion to colonize today’s Third World. Political scientists have developed the following nuanced understanding of the relationship between religion, state and modernity they argue that all religions have legitimized the state’s authority at some point in history; in some respects, religious leaders and institutions may inhibit development; they oppose important aspects of social change; de-legitimize the political system; can try to make it look unpopular; they may encourage, facilitate development; modernization can induce the political secularization can induce peaceful co-existence between state (politics) and religion. By saying that “religion has been a resilient force in the Third Word” we mean it has been challenged throughout history and the world; But it remains alive and active. By saying that “religion has been a pervasive force (in the Third Word)” we mean It has penetrated nearly every society. Including Third World’s; Nearly all the people are members of a religion or a...
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...Lee , a black man named Tom Robinson was wrongly accused of raping a white woman and was sentenced to death because their were 2 white testimonies saying he raped the woman although the evidence proved otherwise. President Roosevelt said that entering WWII was to upheld democracy freedom and liberty in the world, but black soldiers didn't receive that liberty or freedom. Most black men when WWII came were excited because they finally got to prove themselves. Only to find out they’ve been bamboozled. The only black men were allowed to do was load cargo ships and clean clothes. If they wanted to fight with the other soldiers or go sailing there job was to be a mess hand or a steward but neither got the privilege to fight for their freedom. Many black men were outraged some would pretend to be insane just to go home. The big lie they were told sparked lots of outrage against the United States. Black people and soldiers were just sick of it that is one of the reasons the Civil Rights...
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