What Makes for a Democracy?

Everyone has been told since they were small children that having a democracy is the best possible way to run a country. But what the heck does it mean? With all of the headlines about the infighting between the parties, it seems like the idea of a democracy is more of a mess than it is given credit for. It can help to find out more about what a democracy is supposed to look like – because today’s version of democracy has strayed a bit from the original goal of this form of governing.

Elections

When you are in a democracy, one of the best things is that you can elect the people who are going to represent you in the government. Everyone who is a citizen of the area has an opportunity to vote in the elections and to make sure that their voice is heard. Even in smaller local elections, everyone still gets a chance to use their vote in order to support the person or the party they want to support. These elections are held on a regular basis and they are going to help to create a system of people who are elected due to the popular vote. But the issue with the voting system in the United States today is that these votes in the presidential election are then showed to the Electoral College who then determines the outcome of the election. This is a confusing and mysterious part of the process, and not really a part of the pure democracy idea.

Representatives

What many people don’t realize about the idea of the pure democracy is that representatives aren’t actually supposed to be in charge of the decisions being made. Ideally, the people are the ones who are supposed to have a say in the governing of an area. They are supposed to have an equal vote and right to speak up for what they want. But at some time, people began to elect representatives, with the hope that they would speak for the people who elected them. However, this does not always happy. Some representatives just want to get reelected, so they support the ideas that will get them back in office, not the things that the mass majority of people might want to support.

Everyone Has a Say

Ideally, democracy is a system in which EVERYONE has a right to speak up and to be a part of the political process. But today it seems that only those with money and a strong reputation are allowed to be vocal in the government. This is limiting the power of the people and causing people to have less of a voice. Though the system is always going to be flawed in some way, the core of democracy is to ensure that people do have a say – and that’s not happening today.

Democracy has its flaws, as does every system, but that doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be adjusted. People need to have a say, or they’re not going to feel like they should say anything at all.