Gerrymandering

As a country founded on the ideals of freedom and liberty, the United States of America created a Constitution with democracy at its core. Although the Framers strenuously debated on how democratic the Constitution should be, the product of their efforts produced a document that has served as the basis for the democratic republic that America is today. However, some individuals, such as Robert Dahl, a political theorist and an author, illustrate the specific areas of the Constitution that have…

Tolbert, Daniel A. Smith, and John C. Green, the authors explore political institutional change. They use examples of gerrymandering, reform, and change to demonstrate how effective/ineffective institutional change is in America. The authors show how institutional change is either created by elites, or by the voting masses. The masses of voters can be categorized into two separate…

Authoritarianism Disguised as Asian Democracy: The Effect of Single Party Dominance on Malaysia and Singapore’s Political System In our current political landscape, most democracies achieve political legitimacy from a popular belief in an effective government. This relationship between legitimacy and democracy lies in the acknowledgement of key democratic features like representative elections, a multi-party system, citizen rule, limitations on lawmakers, respect for minority rights, etc.…

in today’s society). “Let each colony be divided in to six, eight, or ten, convenient districts, each district to send a proper number of delegates to Congress, so that each colony send at least thirty” (13). Politicians use redistricting and gerrymandering to insure that certain groups of people have no voice in…

Judicial branch and Executive branch, by prosecuting corruption at the source it protects the people from suffering through unfairness. An example of the Legislative branch impeaching a official is Elbridge Gerry, who was the reason for the term “gerrymandering”, ‘Gerry’ from his name and ‘mander’…

According to Justin McCarthy, what have been the obstacles to efforts for ‘fighting for the middle’ which has been historically necessary to pass legislation? According to Justin McCarthy, one obstacle to “fighting for the middle” is gerrymandering. Districts are created to protect incumbents and majorities. For this reason, representatives feel safe when they are running for election or reelection. They are not worried about general elections and attracting moderate voters or voters from…

The United States electoral system permits constancy and permanency in our nation due to serving as a way of checks and balances. Our system of government is divided into separate powers in order to ensure that all results are reasonably and fairly considered and accepted throughout the common ground. The electoral system is formatted in such a way that it allows for some securities for alterations to take place in order to keep a democratic stance while possessing stability of the political…

Electoral College If there was in place a system that has not failed in its purpose of transitioning power in a peaceful way for over 200 years would you think it prudent to replace said system? I believe you should not, but that's exactly what some people want to do. Replacing it with a direct democracy straying the election process away from its constitutional republic design. Being, in turn, the whole design of the American government. The Electoral College should not be…

Over the past half century, there has been an increasing globalized trend towards democratic decentralization. Decentralization can be defined as the transfer of governing power, authority and fiscal control from central to local government, and is a highly contentious process of governance (Stren 2011). Within this overarching process, there are many forces that work in conjunction with one another in order to make decentralized governments function aptly. Deconcentration of governing power,…

Martin Luther King Jr. played a tremendous role in the civil rights movements. Dr. King orchestrated many peaceful acts to gain equality for African Americans. He led the bus boycott in 1955, when Rosa Parks, an African American woman, refused to give up her seat in the front of the bus. King was also known for his powerful acts in having taught nonviolent methods. In 1964, he earned the Nobel Peace Prize. Martin Luther King Jr. was also very widely known for his famous “I Have a Dream” speech…