I think so the fundamental principle of a democracy is doing the will of the people. John Locke said that governments rule at the consent of the governed so would this not be violating our nations social contract. After all for years we as Americans have talked about how great we are as a nation because of the power of the people and our separation of powers. This seems to be slipping to the way side in way of oh lets say the patriot act, the handling of the war in Iraq, cia prisons, the executive branch condoning torture and not to mention not being elected by popular vote(yes technically ok) but the public has spoken and statments have fallen on deaf ears in favor of "im the decision maker i make decisions" will America continue to be a Gov. for the people or will it slowly slip into a Gov. that just tells us to shut up and listen
2007-06-24 08:05:17 · 7 answers · asked by serving,but not lipserving 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Government
The US is not a "direct democracy" meaning we don't let the people vote on everything. We are a "representative democracy" meaning we elect leaders to represent us.
The election gives them the consent of the governed unless they commit some crime that would remove them from office.
I also don't think that a representative must always do what the majority of the people want. 1) The majority of the people want inconsistent things like lower taxes, but more spending on their favorite programs 2) Sometimes our leaders have information that the rest of us don't
This is why the public needs to elect intelligent leaders who will listen to the people and take what they say into account, but ultimately act in what they see as the best interests of the nation.
If we governed only by public opinion we never would have gotten involved in World War II. If stopping Hilter wasn't sufficient grounds to go to war, I'm not sure you could find any.
We also probably wouldn't have made the Louisiana Purchase or purchased Alaska either. We could be a much smaller country without any oil to speak of.
None of this should be taken a support of the current administration because they do not have my support for much of anything.
2007-06-24 09:40:59 · answer #1 · answered by katydid13 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As someone else pointed out, we're not a democracy ... we're a representative republic. The Founding Fathers intentionally created terms of office for Senators (6 years) and the President (4 years) that would be long enough that they would be less likely to listen to the whims of the public and do what they thought was right.
2007-06-24 17:17:47 · answer #2 · answered by jdkilp 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
haha, definately agree with you. Locke's ideas were definately with the founding fathers when they made the constitution. Thus, the power of impeachment was put into place. But the power to impeach is very hard, a tribute to the dangers of impeachment on a whim.
In today's society i have to disagree with the second guy up there that the US is not a democracy. OF COURSE it's a democracy. As long as the people have a say in the government, that government is democratic to some degree. Of course, with the information mentioned in the details above, our government may not be a TOTAL democratic state, but it is still democratic.
2007-06-24 09:17:59 · answer #3 · answered by Isshin T 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
absolutely a president is elected by the people that he is supposed to represent.it seems that lately none of the politicians have our best interest in mind.and with a major election around the corner the presidential hopefulls will say that they are going to represent us better than our current president but are the really.once they get into the whitehouse they'll forget about us like they always do.you listed excellent points today's government mirrors the government mentioned in George Orwell's 1984 a government that does what it thinks is best for us without asking us.
2007-06-24 08:25:33 · answer #4 · answered by herb52781 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Bigtime, A President in this type of society is supposed to represent his people. When he doesn't listen to the majority or doesn't listen at all, we don't have a democracy, we live in a dictatorship. The Congress needs to get him to stop overstepping his boundaries.
2007-06-24 08:14:24 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
we are not a democracy though, we are a constitutional republic
(we as in the United States)
2007-06-24 08:13:55 · answer #6 · answered by stonesfan_17 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
My God in heaven yes yes yes!
2007-06-24 08:08:49 · answer #7 · answered by billy d 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋