Folk Theory Of Representative Democracy

All forms of government, much like that which exists within the United States, are idealistic. Meaning, in order to function as it is designed, all participants must be virtually flawless. Due to the undeniable fact that all humans are flawed, the American governmental system will function the same way –imperfectly. Regardless, each American citizen that is at least 18 has the right to vote and actively participate in government. Even though America 's government is one that is sometimes faulty, it is still considered the pinnacle of democracy and a nation whose public policy reflects the will of the people. Public policy is how a government controls or focuses on its citizen 's needs. However, most American citizens, typically the uninformed, vote according to party loyalty and generally political party 's stances on public policies typically represents little to none of their actual personal interests leaving us with a system where public policy is not influenced by elections. …show more content…
Theoretically, this representative government should be a transitive transaction: the voters pick the representative and the representative speaks directly for the voter.i This theory is known as the "folk theory" of democracy. Folk theory is the idea that people live underneath a virtually unblemished form of government that works for the people. But, if the majority of America 's population is uninformed, where does that leave this