Essay On Democracy In America

“John Adams, America's second president, once pronounced that, “Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide” (The Economist Newspaper). The American government is at risk of coming to an end because of how upside down it is. Democracy is defined as “a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them through a system of representation” (Merriam Webster). “Just 19 percent of Americans in a 2015 Pew survey reported trusting the federal government at least most of the time, compared to 73 percent of respondents in a similar 1958 poll. In one October 2016 survey, 40 percent of registered voters said they had lost faith in American democracy” (Kauffman). These surveys show the drastic changes in the People's views between a 1958 poll and a 2016 survey. The decline of this faith in government is a sign that democracy is weakening and under threat. Although opponents claim that true democracy exists in America, the American government is a broken form of democracy because it goes against citizens’ electoral wishes, it does not grant individuals the chance to fully commit to their responsibilities, and minority citizens face discrimination in politics. …show more content…
In his article, “Individual Rights and Community Responsibilities,” Pat Nanzer discusses the rights that citizens have based on the Declaration of Independence. American citizens have the right “to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” (US 1776). “But the rights of the people are the core of American democracy. In this way, the United States is unique in the world; its tradition of individual rights strongly reflects the American experience” (Nanzer). This previous quote describes the irony of the “American Experience” or the “American Dream” which does not give individuals all the rights they