Reason Why Elections Are Less Democratic
The reason why elections are less democratic is because some people say that money is taking away from our well known democracy, but in other instances we have the greatest democracy compared to other countries of our vast magnitude.
Throughout the nineteenth century campaigns were ran and geared toward the party.
Instead of voting for a person you were voting for an individual party either federalist or democratic-republican. Today, in the twentieth century, we vote for the candidate and their true character or what they have to offer us. To run a successful campaign now-a-days you need money, a good pollster, well organized debate, direct mail, and positive publicity.
“Money is the mother's milk of politics” if you don't have you aren't going to go any where. Campaign money is received part from federal and part from private donors in a presidential election, but congressional elections are all private donors. Most of the money for a congressional leader comes from individual donors, but they also have political action committees (interest groups) that raise money for their campaign. Presidential candidates also raise money from individual donors because the federal government will match them dollar for dollar. Reform has been successful in the fact that it minimizes some fat cat buying his or her own pet politician, but it also takes away from the parties, provides an advantage to wealthy challengers, gives advantages to candidates with high ideological appeal, penalizes those who start late in the campaign, and helps incumbents and hurts challengers.
The Democratic Party has more registered voters so logically the democrats should win. The reasons why they don't always win is because those who are democrats are not firmly stuck with their party like republicans are, republicans also do better with the independent voters, and more republicans actually come out and vote than democrats.
Realigning elections are also known as critical elections. It happens when a major party suffers such a defeat (because of a major issue that comes about and separates the party) that it disappears or it is the shifting of voters between major parties. There has been three major realigning elections: 1860, 1896, and 1932. In 1860 it was the slavery issue, in 1896 it dealt with economic issues, and in 1932 it occurred because of an economic depression. Some people say we are getting ready to have one because of the effects of the New Deal, but others say it won't happen again because party labels have lost their meaning.
For any given party to win an election you must retain your old voters, but
The years between 1815 and 1840 had many changes. Politics become more democracized with more voters, campaigns and candidates changed tactics in hopes of appealing to more people. This was all brought about by the significant economic developments of the century, including transportation, the American system, and more. Each and every one of these events has shaped the way our country runs today.
-- Some of the key political events taking place during this era were The Great School Debates, The Philadelphia Bible Riots of 1843 led by John Hughs, 1849 Roberts court case, in 1855 a law was passed abolishing segregations is Massachusetts, and last but not least the 1854 Brown vs. Board of Education.
During the time period of 1860 and 1877 many major changes occurred. From the beginning of the civil war to the fall of the reconstruction, the United States changed dramatically. Nearly one hundred years after the Declaration of Independence which declared all men equal, many social and constitutional alterations were necessary to protect the rights of all people, no matter their race. These social and constitutional developments that were made during 1860 to 1877 were so drastic it could be called a revolution.
From the start of the American Civil War, 1860, until the end of the Reconstruction, 1877, the United States of America endured what can be considered a revolution. Prior to the year 1860, there was a lack of union because of central government power flourishing rather than state power. Therefore, there was a split of opposite sides, North and South, fighting for authority. One major issue that came into mind was of slavery. At first, there were enactments that were issued to limit or rather prevent conflict to erupt, such as the numerous compromises, Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. They did not fulfill the needs of the states, South states in particular; therefore, in the year 1860, the Civil War had commenced. There was the issue of inequality of Blacks in suffrage, politics, and the use of public facilities. However, much constitutional and social advancement in the period culminated in the revolution. To a radical extent, constitutional development between 1860 and 1877 amount to a revolution because of events like the Emancipation Proclamation, Civil Rights Act, the amendments that tried to change African Americans lives in American Society and contributed to get the union together. There is the social developments as well that to a lesser extent had amounted to the revolution because of organizations like the Klu Klux Klan, Freedmen’s Bureau lacking, and discrimination against African Americans that caused progression of violence and white supremacy.
Throughout the 1830-1840’s the opposing governmental parties, the Jacksonian Democrats and the Whigs, undertook many issues. The Whigs were a party born out of their hatred for President Andrew Jackson, and dubbed his harsh military ways as “executive usurpation,” and generally detested everything he did while he was in office. This party was one that attracted many other groups alienated by President Jackson, and was mainly popular among urban industrial aristocrats in the North. On the other hand, the Jacksonian Democrats were a party born out of President Andrew Jackson’s anti-federalistic ideals that was extremely popular among southern agrarians. A major economic issue that the two parties disagreed on was whether or not the United States should have a National Bank. Along with the National Bank, the two parties also disagreed on the issue of the Protective tariff that was enforced to grow Northern industry. Politically, the two parties disagreed on the issues of Manifest Destiny, or expansion, and ultimately Slavery. While the two parties essentially disagreed on most issues, there are also similarities within these issues that the two parties somewhat agree on.
...ights of blacks due to the inequitable laws such as the Black Codes, Jim Crow Laws, and sharecropping, and the fact that the Economic Depression of 1873 and the common acts of corruption distressed the economy. The southern states were reunified with the northern states through Lincoln and Johnson’s Reconstruction programs, even though Congress did not fully support them and created their own plan. Reconstruction was meant to truly give blacks the rights they deserved, but the southerners’ continuous acts of discrimination including the Black Codes, Jim Crow Laws, and sharecropping eventually denied them of those rights. Lastly, the negative effects of the corruption and the Panic of 1873 lead to economic failure during Reconstruction. These issues relate to our society because people do still face discrimination and corruption in our economy still exists today.
Before the mid 1800s, the north and south dealt with a lot of disagreements that involved economic differences. The differences dealt with slavery, representation, states’ rights, and tariffs. There was a conflict with states wanting to balance the freedom of slaves in the states. Another cause was the tariffs which dealt with the taxation of imported goods, the Northern states supported protective tariffs, but the South did not. Consequently, the conflicts began to grow and this increased the differences between the North and South. During the early to mid 1800s sectional differences forced the north and south farther and farther apart. The differences that affected the North and South involved the missouri compromise of 1820, the cotton gin invention, and the Uncle Tom’s novel.
Not to mention, in the early 1800s, slavery was becoming an increasingly sectional issue, meaning that it was dividing the nation along regional lines intensively. Indeed historians have traditionally labeled the period after the War of 1812 as the “Era of Good Feelings”, but the tension between nationalism and sectionalism increased additionally, which were inevitably conspicuous and began to impair the economy, intensifying sectionalism by the means of slavery and expansion and added disunity within the government. The “good feelings” abruptly ended in 1819 when a financial terror called the Panic of 1819 threw the American economy into turmoil. The panic caused a period of economic growth, inflation, and land speculation, all of which had destabilized the economy. Banks lent money to businessmen who were seeking to buy new land to build factories for their industries; however, accompanying this expansion was inflation, which occurred after the War of 1812.... ...
period of American history. Those working for a social change did so under a variety of
Tavits, Margit. "Party Systems in the Making: The Emergence and Success of New Parties in New Democracies." British Journal of Political Science 38.1 (2008): 113-33. JSTOR. Web. 26 May 2014.
Kenneth Vogel’s Big Money explores the invasion of money into our political system. In the novel, Vogel explains one of the most important important events that is currently happening in today’s elections: donors. This, according to Vogel, has been brought on by a ruling in the case Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission. The result of this case destroyed finance restrictions, giving Corporations and Unions the same laws of freedom of speech as individual Americans. The novel opens in February of 2012 where Vogel sneaks into a donor banquet. As our current president, Barack Obama, gives his speech, Vogel makes a note of the President’s words. In particular, Vogel focuses on one line “You now have the potential
"United States can be seen as the first liberal democracy. The United States Constitution, adopted in 1788, provided for an elected government and protected civil rights and liberties. On the American frontier, democracy became a way of life, with widespread social, economic and political equality. The system gradually evolved, from Jeffersonian Democracy or the First Party System to Jacksonian Democracy or the Second Party System and later to the Third Party System. In Reconstruction after the Civil War (late 1860s) the newly freed slaves became citizens, and they were given the vote as well." (Web, 1)
Election campaigns require tremedous financial resources, so bought-and-paid-for politicians are servants of a financial aristocracy and not rather representatives of the American people.
In a dominant- party system, a single party wins approximately 60 percent or more of the seats in legislature and two or more other parties usually win less than 40 percent of the seat. Opposition parties in dominant-party system are free to contest elections. The dominant parties have to compete for votes to maintain its power or to gain power. This democratic competition imposes a check and balance on the government of the day, promotes transparency and accountability and ensures that service delivery to the people are prioritized or it will be given the boot.
What is democracy? Democracy a form of government in which the people freely elect representatives to govern them in a country, democracy guarantees free and fair elections, basic personal and political rights and independent court of law. There are two types of democracy, direct and indirect democracy. Direct democracy or pure democracy is where there is direct participate of the people; people make decisions for them instead of letting them representative make decision for them. Indirect democracy the decisions are made by the representative on behalf of the people that voted for them. All over the world people are having different views with regard to democracy and how it operates. “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried” ~ Winston Churchill, some have said democracy is the worst government form of government which I also think it’s! Due to the how it operates.