Is the America's Political Processes Democratic?

Is the America's Political Processes Democratic?

America likes to think of itself as a trendsetter from aspects of cultural, social, environmental and especially political. America political systems operates on the idea of democracy that is a system of self-government by the people; rule by many. Democracy has evolved over the course of our history though it very much remains a work in progress rather a finished product. America's political process is undemocratic.

To understand how democratic is the American political processes, we have to understand how it works. There are two kinds of democracy: direct vs. representative. Direct democracy is a form of political decision making in which the public business is decided by all citizens meeting in small assembles (Greenberg, 6). Representative democracy, aka indirect democracy, happens through elected representatives who are elected by the people. America practices indirect democracy due to our large societies. A healthy representative democracy system operates on three bench marks: popular sovereignty, political equality, and political liberty. Popular sovereignty is the idea that is the people have the ultimate power and the government works for the people only. Some conditions for the popularity sovereignty are government policies reflect wishes of the people; government leaders are selected in competitive elections; elections are free and fair; people participate in the political process; high quality information is available' and the majority rule (Greenberg, 7-12). Political equality operates on the citizens are protected from government inferences in the exercise of basic freedom. Political liberty operates on the basic freedoms essential to formation and expression of majority opinion.

The 2008 Presidential election is a remarkable presidential campaign in many aspects. For the first in history, Democrats allowed a woman to compete with men in the nomination. Majority of presidential candidates come from ranks of former governors and vice president. Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton were sitting senators (Greenberg 297).

Media plays important role in American politics and its goal is to be a watchdog over the government. The First Amendment states that "Congress shall make no law respecting … abridging the freedom of speech or of the press" is intended for media to expose candidates' misbehaviors without dear of censorship or prosecution. News corporations are privately-owned unlike countries such as Great Britain whereby strict secrecy laws limit what the press can say about government activities. In France, Israel, and Sweden, government own and operate major news channel. By the end of 2007, more than one-half of American were using internet for source of information. For the 2008 election, one-quarter of American relied on internet for news about the campaign, candidates, issues; especially those between the age of 18