The Dichotomy Of Representative Democracy In The United States

The notion of where the United State is a republic and not a democracy is a frequent debate in the United States. Scholars haunt the dichotomy of direct democracy. Instead, the United States is a representative democracy. James Wilson, a framer of the Constitution, reinforced that the United State is a representative democracy and “the power is inherent in the people and is either exercised by themselves or by their representatives. Subsequent to the Founding Fathers, democracy has been comprehended to comprise representative democracy as likewise as direct democracy. Additionally, some scholars label the United States as a constitutional democracy and a republic.

The political theory of democracy has established that democracy is implausibly

Being corporate lobbying and campaign finance the main characters in outlining the choices that politicians decides; this is because corporations as well those moneyed individuals are the major contributors and campaigns funding for elected officials. Corporations benefit from elected officials once in office as they incline to pass policies that are favorable to the corporations and the wealthy. Nichols noted that with the Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Citizens United v. FEC, an estimated of ten billion dollars was spent in the 2012 election, as people are permitted to donate limitless campaign donations. High percentage of this money is used in negative political advertising, as a tactic to drive voters to vote for other party, mainly between Democrats and Republicans being the most prominent parties. Since the negative attack ads causes citizens not to vote, it provokes self-governance to be more present in society. Nichols suggested the creation of reforms to battle and disassemble the “money-and-media election” that unfortunately is shifting the United States into a Dollarocracy. Nichols mentions possible reforms such a “Constitutional amendment” which secures the right to vote for all citizens over eighteen-years-old, better communication and

In order to terminate the “money-and-media” elections, one of the proposals is to guarantee an equal stage of “free airtime” for candidates in a setting for a factual debate; emphasizing in the access to independent journalism; and a non-partisan election commission, these promotes and discontinues the need for largely amount of campaign finance. The media has been identified as a center stage that plays an important function in the establishment of democracy that can also be used to overturn the democratic order. Noam Chomsky stated, “neoliberalism is destroying our democracy.” Noam Chomsky added that “In the democratic system, the necessary illusions cannot be imposed by force.” Chomsky also added “must be instilled in the public mind by more subtle means.” “But in a democratic political order, there is always the danger that independent thought might be translated into political action, so it is important to eliminate the threat at its root.” Chomsky relates the power of the elites as a dominant class ruling the life of the people. Where the elites are expected to contribute as social executives and the