Democracy

Democracy has always been explained to me as a government by the people, for the people. However, that is not the case most of the time in today’s society. Democracy in America is influenced by more than just the common man or woman. These outside influences have caused American “democracy” to look more like a monarchy.

Let’s start first with the patronage system. This is where an elected official immediately awards those who helped get him or her into office by giving them cushy government jobs or maybe fat government contracts. Basically, “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.” This is not a practice that has the good of the common citizen at heart. It is not for all the people but only those that backed the candidate that won. A great example of this just happened in the recent election. The governor of Alaska gave his daughter a spot in the U.S. Senate. This is an elected office that he just gave to her. How can she possibly say that she is the voice of the Alaskan people if they didn’t even elect her? Where is the democracy and freedom of choice in that?

Another great example is the laws that are being passed in the government. I understand that we live in a troubled time where crazed militants might be hiding under every rock waiting to do America harm. However, we cannot and should not touch any of the ideals that this country was founded on. Laws like the Patriot Act are unconstitutional and should be done away with immediately. The Patriot Act limits forms of free speech and allows the government to justify snooping in a person’s private life. These are things that our founding fathers fought a Revolution for. Because an elite few feel that these laws are necessary doesn’t mean that a majority of the country does. The common person cannot influence what laws are passed or not. That is not democracy if people are told to just deal with it.

Speaking of the common man in government lets talk about representation. A majority of those in government offices are a far cry from the common American. Most are graduates of not only four year colleges buy also have their masters. Many are in fact lawyers (which is what I want to do but for far different reasons). I’ll bet that if you went out and asked a thousand random people on the street what they did for a living only a couple, and I doubt even this, would be lawyers. The common person does not have nearly that much schooling but is represented by someone who spent the first thirty years of their lives with their nose in a textbook. I’m not saying schooling is wrong but this is just one more way that American democracy doesn’t work. How can a person who is a lawyer and hasn’t worked an honest day in their life possibly know what is good for farmers in Kansas? They can’t. Representatives in a democracy should have actually be from the people they are speaking for. A representative should know that they are just stepping out of the ranks for awhile but will one day rejoin their brethren.