Direct democracy

Republic, Plato makes the claim that “only philosophy can save us” (Book V, 573d). Thousands of years later, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote Democracy in America. Many scholars summarize his beliefs as, “only institutions can save us”, a direct repudiation of Plato. In this paper, I will show that, in fact, Plato’s philosophy is embedded in Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, specifically revolving around the preference for community and collectivism rather than private gain. In the Republic, Plato…

of the main founders was James Madison, who was very critical of government and democracy. Madison created a Theory of Democracy based on a solution to solve the defects of political activity in our government. Democratic deficiency is explained in the article Democratic Practice and Democratic Theory by Bernard R. Berelson. Berelson explains how the American citizen is unable to act according to the theory of democracy. Many citizens do not have a social or political foundation to structurally…

world, the balance of power between branches of government is weak or absent, leaving democracies to fail in their mission, to vest the power to the people. In this paper, I will analysis and compare the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches of government in the British parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarchy and Russia’s semi-presidential republic. In the British democracy, the legislature has a powerful role in the government, including checks on the…

In book eight of The Republic, Socrates offers his thoughts on Democracy, and whether or not this form of government aids in fostering a successful state. He ultimately concludes that Democracy contains too many flaws, yet the qualities he admires compel him to stay faithful to Athens. Despite declaring Democracy as the “second worst” form of government, Socrates specifically liked its (Democracy) inherent qualities of diversity and freedom of speech. These two qualities are rare in the other…

In the American democracy the Electoral College is provided to assist the nation to formally chose the president and vice president. The Electoral College has been around for long, which was first devised in 1789 by the framers of the Constitution; snice then it has undergone numerous changes but still does what it was originally created to do. This system is frowned upon by many citizens, for it undermines the value of Americans voices and their beliefs. “The Electoral College is an…

Bridges, Amy and Kouser argues that progressives behaved as strategic politicians by supporting direct democracy when they were hindered at achieving their goals in the legislature and were confident that the voters who would be empowered by initiatives agreed with progressive policies. The American people value their initiatives—they have never permitted a state to repeal their initiative power. Long before the Amendment is eventually adopted, the people can enact state-level testing and…

relies on the three branches of government as a balance of power. More so, U.S. president must govern through the federal governing apparatus, which controls his power through the judicial branch and the Congress. In a similar form of Congressional democracy, the British system of governing relies on the parliamentary sovereignty of the legislative body to make governing decisions. However, Britain does not utilize a presidential system…

John Adams, the second President of the United States once said, “Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide”. In this quote, Adams explicitly acknowledges that democracies always eventually collapse. Adams included the words ‘murders’ and ‘suicide’ in his diction to imply that once a democracy collapses, it turns into extreme chaos. William Golding, the author of Lord of the Flies, shared a…

Should the united states continue to elect its president through the electoral college system? To ease some of the tension with this decision let me lay down some facts and information. In a presidential election, the popular vote simply means an aggregate of all voters from all states in America. The candidate who gets the most votes nationwide is said to have won the popular vote. But the winner of the popular vote may end up losing the election, like “Al Gore did in 2000 and Hillary Clinton…

While some are very different with each other but others have similarities soon how their government function. Democracy is a government ruled by the people. The ancient Athens and Roman Empire consist of what they believe is the true democracy. The Athenian democracy is founded by Cleisthenes, a nobleman who stood for popular interest. This form of government is a direct democracy where every citizen could vote on laws but this only includes Athenian’s male. The constitution of Cleisthenes…