Essential Features of our Democracy in the United States:

1. Representative democracy: We have "representative democracy" - The citizens elect representatives to serve in city/state/national legislatures, like the U.S. Congress, to make the laws. Citizens also elect government executives like the mayor/governor/president to carry out the laws. In theory at least, the representatives are supposed to reflect the will of their constituencies. However, there are times when this is not the case.
2. Safeguards for individual freedom: In order to protect people in their basic liberties from the "tyranny of the majority" Thomas Jefferson mentioned that people are "endowed by their creator" with certain "inalienable rights" those being life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Our Constitution has the Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, that is intended to protect these liberties. These rights include freedom of speech, press, religion, gun ownership, privacy, equal treatment under the law, jury trial, right to a lawyer, innocence until proven guilty...
3. Free and Fair Elections: One person, one vote. Any qualifying citizen can run for office and do so without intimidation. Ballots are secret and the election process is open for observation. Candidates and their supporters are free to hold public rallies for their cause.
4. Independent Judiciary: Courts are insulated from the other branches of government because they are often called in to settle disputes between the legislative and executive branches, or to address grievances by the citizens against the government. Right of appeal to a higher court is also common.
5. Rule of Law: We don't allow citizens to dispense justice on their own (vigilantism), we have a body of laws about how our government is to run and agencies assigned to carry out these laws. Hence, no lynch mobs and no one is above the law, not even the president. No cruel or unusual punishments are allowed. The punishments must fit the crime.
6. Separation/Balance of Powers: Some powers are reserved to the states, e.g. New York State can set its own speed limits, gun control laws, educational policies and criminal penalties. The Federal Government's powers are limited in this way.
7. Checks and Balances (divided power): Branches of government have their own assigned powers, although they overlap some times. The purpose is to keep one branch from becoming more powerful than another. Examples:  the President can dispatch troops into hostile action but must ask Congress for permission to do so beyond a limited period of time. The Supreme Court can rule that a law passed by Congress  as "un-Constitutional" and therefore rendering it null and void. The Congress can impeach (change with a crime and have a trial) the President. The President can veto a law passed by Congress. Congress can require the President's office get court warrants to spy on Americans.

Assumptions Surrounding Democracy -

1. Informed and active citizenry: A democracy is only as good as its people make it. Participating in elections alone will not constitute and active citizenry. Participation in demonstrations, community service, public debates, etc. are just as essential to voting. The citizens must also know at least as much about the operations of their government as they do the statistics of their favorite sports teams and players.
2. Independent press: Accurate information is required for an informed citizenry to make decisions on election day. A free press with should be able to offer multiple perspectives on issues without any threat of intimidation from the government or anyone else.
3. Multiple parties: People can organized around particular interests and form political entities. In a diverse society with competing interests multiple parties would be inevitable.
4. Equal access to courts and public officials for all: It shouldn't matter how much money you have, all should be able to lobby their representatives.
5. Freedom of information: Democracy requires an open society, where government's operate, to the greatest extent possible, in the public eye. This requires access to government documents, excepting only those that would genuinely pose a national security threat if released.
6. Accountability: government officials are held accountable for their actions and can face penalties, even prison, when they fail to act in the public interest and/or commit a crime.  Impeachment of the president is the most dramatic instance in which a public official can be held accountable.

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EXTENSION EXERCISE: Try this matching exercise to test your knowledge: Read below and find its corresponding feature of democracy above. Write your answers in your notebooks. You may do this in pairs if you like.

Among the Essential Features of Democracy

 1. This one gives the people you love to hate rights.
 2. This one has you vote for your congress persons who in turn are they too look after your interests.
 3. This one says that judges must be impartial in their rulings.
 4. This one has the president's power curbed by Congress in that the president can be impeached (brought to
      trial).

Among the Assumptions of Democracy

 1. The U.S. usually has only two major candidates, one Democrat and the other Republican, running for 
      president.
 2. Those who hold political positions are supposed to be responsible to the people and must face
     consequences for not being so.
 3. The new media are supposed to be unbiased or at least present fairly all sides to an issue in order to help us
      stay informed.
 4.  People have to follow the real news, news that matters, and not just sports or entertainment news.
 5.  In most democracies there are several (more than two) groups organized around political platforms that run
      candidates for office.

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Date page last updated: 10/01/2010