America has always been seen as the land of the free and democratic. But how democratic is America? A textbook definition of democracy is “a form of government in which the people rule, either directly or through elected leaders”. Pure democracy is when the people directly rule. Pure democracy typically only works in small societies. In America, we have a representative democracy. We vote for representatives and those representatives vote on the policies that will affect the public. The model for a representative democracy should look like this “PublicRepresentativePublic Policy” (lecture). However, after diving deeper into the details of how American government works, America may not seem as democratic as we first thought. To better grasp
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Democracy can be measured by how easily the public can determine public policy. The easiest way to influence public policy is through linkages. There are several types of linkages. The first linkage being public opinion. Public opinion is defined as “opinions held by individuals that the government finds it prudent to heed” (lecture). This linkage does less of determining policy and more of guiding it. The only way of accurately determining public policy is by scientifically polling. Scientifically polling is very expensive though, and typically only used by the federal government. So public opinion is not an effective linkage at the state level and only guides what can become public policy at the national …show more content…
However, this may not be a good thing. Interest groups have an upper class bias. One of the main reasons being is because in order for an interest group to function it needs money. In fact, 77% of people with incomes at $125,000 a year are active in political interest groups (PP#17). One of the most effective tools for interest groups in terms of influencing public policy is lobbying. However, 56% of all lobbying expenditures comes from business interest groups and 22% from trade associations interest groups (pg 176). But the upside to interest groups are that they are more available and open to join. But overall, interest groups are the most effective linkage in determining public
Democracy can be measured by how easily the public can determine public policy. The easiest way to influence public policy is through linkages. There are several types of linkages. The first linkage being public opinion. Public opinion is defined as “opinions held by individuals that the government finds it prudent to heed” (lecture). This linkage does less of determining policy and more of guiding it. The only way of accurately determining public policy is by scientifically polling. Scientifically polling is very expensive though, and typically only used by the federal government. So public opinion is not an effective linkage at the state level and only guides what can become public policy at the national …show more content…
However, this may not be a good thing. Interest groups have an upper class bias. One of the main reasons being is because in order for an interest group to function it needs money. In fact, 77% of people with incomes at $125,000 a year are active in political interest groups (PP#17). One of the most effective tools for interest groups in terms of influencing public policy is lobbying. However, 56% of all lobbying expenditures comes from business interest groups and 22% from trade associations interest groups (pg 176). But the upside to interest groups are that they are more available and open to join. But overall, interest groups are the most effective linkage in determining public