Popular Democracy Vs. Elite Democracy

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Recommended: Political culture in the USA

The debate over democracy began at the time of our nation’s founding and still strongly exists among today’s society. With the rapid development of technology and social media, American politics have become a complete mess as it is being displayed in our current presidential election. Almost everyone in America believes in democracy, however, Americans possess many different beliefs regarding how far democracy should extend into political, social, and economical life. One of the fundamental arguments that exist among political scientists is the idea of popular democracy versus elite democracy. Elite democrats hold the belief that democracy is a valuable method for selecting our government officials, yet they are cynical about the political …show more content…

After evaluating the debate between Mueller and Loeb, I strongly agree with Mueller’s outlook of an elite democracy. I agree with the idea of an elite democracy because ordinary American citizens do not have the time needed to focus on politics, very important decisions should be left to those with experience and expertise, and it is the only realistic outlook for modern society.
In Mueller’s argument he attacks what he considers to be the romantic and unrealistic foundation of democracy presented by the popular democrats. Mueller believes that a democracy consists of a political system that prevents violence and allows ordinary citizens the right to disapprove and remove government officials. The United States is the “land of the free” and many Americans are too busy abusing that freedom while they pay no attention to important political matters. The lifestyles of present day Americans is extremely different compared to the simplistic life of Americans during the nineteenth-century. Today’s society is overwhelmed by technology and social media, which distracts many people from focusing on political matters. There are many Americans that do not stay in touch with current events that are taking place. Loeb went into great detail about …show more content…

The process of democracy is an extremely disorderly mess in which special interests are often reduced to slogans and in the end no one goes away completely satisfied. It just makes more sense for important political decisions to be made by individuals who are politically active and interested. Americans do not appreciate freedom, we often abuse it and our government must take control. Americans are so gullible when it comes to politics and politicians love to take advantage of ordinary citizens. Politicians are famous for saying all the right things during the election process then turn out to be a disappointment once in office. We are all familiar with the constant advertisements that we are presented with during elections that usually attack the opposing political party. Politics have always been a dirty process, but I believe it keeps getting worse due to social media and a lack of privacy. The rapid development of technology is drastically changing the world and the way we live our lives. Modern society is entirely different compared to when our nation was founded in 1776. Most individuals have a hard time accepting change, but sometimes there is no other option. During the 2008 Presidential Election, Illinois Senator Barack Obama promised us change and personally I do not believe that he fulfilled his promise

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