United States as a Democracy

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United States as a Democracy

Thomas Jefferson once wrote in the Declaration of Independence, “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Today, this quote stands tall in defining and describing the type of government the United States has created for the people. A democracy is a supreme power vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system. The United States of America should be classified as a democracy due to many of its many democratic characteristics due to examples ranging from something as small as checks and balances to something as serious as the First Amendment. However, in a few cases, the United States falls under the category of an oligarchy. An Oligarchy is similar to a democracy in many ways; they both are governments that rule by the few. The only difference is an oligarchy tends to favor or keep in mind the benefit of the wealthy over the poor. In many cases, these oligarchies are controlled by a few powerful families. In this paper, I will state that the United States is a democracy, with a few characteristics of an oligarchy and provide references to support my claim.

To be more specific, the United Stat...

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...long way to where it is now, and new laws providing security and advantages for the poor evolve each day. If the United States was any other form of government, it just would not work. If a monarchy took place, the risk of having a dictator similar to Adolf Hitler, or Fidel Castro may take place. It is not a very optimistic idea to put all of the peoples trust and concerns in the hand of only one person. If an oligarchy was the main form of government, many of the low and middle class income would suffer greatly and even those of the wealthy. In an oligarchy the few who rule makes the decision based on their own beliefs, not those which benefit the people. The sixteenth president of the United States says explains this nation’s government simply as “government of the people, by the people, for the people."

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