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Democracy: Direct Democracy In The United States

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Direct democracy is a system that allows citizens to make laws themselves rather than outsourcing the job to elected representatives. The advantages of having a direct democracy would allow the inhabitants to have the capability of direct authority and cast ballots that will influence how things are operated. Another advantage having this type of democracy would entail more transparency within government. Certain issues that would normally be considered classified, having a direct democracy all information related to government would be available for everyone to see. Although this may appear beneficial to citizens, a direct democracy can also cause tension within a government. With everyone free to voice their opinion, some individuals are not …show more content…

Knowing that the distribution of power within government needs to be fair and just, states have their own laws and powers that fall under the U.S. Constitution. All state constitutions have common purposes and functions regarding the day to day relationships between government and people. The structure of a states government typically establishes a bill of rights, an executive branch headed by a governor, attorney general, a state legislature, state courts, including a supreme court. WC: 93

4) Local government has four classifications in which the state's constitution allows discretionary authority: the power to choose the form of government, charter and enact charter revisions, the authority to set employment rules, remuneration rates, employment conditions and collective bargaining, the power to exercise local self-government in a broad or limited manner and lastly, the authority to determine tax rates, borrow funds and other related financial activities. While local governments vary across the United States, they have far greater impact on the people than the federal government. WC:

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The American Democracy Now textbook explains about the different 9 chapters, such as The Constitution, Federalism, Civil Liberties, Public Opinion, Interest Groups, Political, and etc. Within each of the 9 chapters it describes a brief history of America and how it help mold and shaped the way we live, and the way we think from a different perspective of a person opinion. Throughout the years, technology has influenced different ways people and government communicates and organizes their political campaigns such as television, computers, cell phones, and news services. Technology has challenged people to give them opportunities to respond to make a deep impact in the future of the nation.

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The state government control the parts of the government that effect the people of that state such as marriage, making schools, and holding elections. The federal government has the power to do things such as starting wars, regulating trade, and printing currency. Federalism protects against tyranny by dividing power between the state and government, which helps from the government having too much power over the people and their lives and instead gives that power to the state to regulate it. Without giving power to the state instead of the government we would be controlled by people who may have never even stepped foot in that

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In May of 1787, 55 delegates came to Philadelphia to have a Constitutional Convention. They had this meeting so they could make the U.S. Constitution. They wanted to make one because the articles of the Confederation were not working. They wanted to make a Constitution that would benefit the U.S. The Constitution also guarded against tyranny in 4 different ways, Federalism, Separation of powers, checks and balances and big State little State, compromise.

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The Constitution divides power between the state and national governments in a federal system. The national government's power is subdivided between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Each of the branches of the national government have ways to check the other branches so no one branch becomes too powerful. The interests of small and large states are also balanced in House of Representative and Senate. The US Constitution has stood for 226 years and over all those years it has been put to the test time and time again, but even today even right now it is doing it

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Direct democracy was recommended by Woodrow Wilson. Although he was originally convinced that this type of democracy would be successful he later had a change of heart. Wilson realized that the people of the state and country are determined to be in control of their politics. The people have a need of being more involved with the process of how laws are passed and failed. During Wilson’s presidential campaign he decided to pitch the idea of using direct democracy as a cure all for a better representation of government and a massive reduction of the underlying corruption that takes place.

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The Constitution uses division of powers in order to prevent tyranny from occurring. James Madison, a man who was very dedicated towards our Constitution, decided upon dividing the government into two different sections, state and central, this idea is known as federalism. Powers needed to run a country are granted to the central governments, a few of those powers are printing and coin money, declare war, and regulate trade, and powers given to the state governments are the ability to hold elections, establish schools, and set up local governments. ( Document A ). The idea of federalism is important because it has a major effect on the prevention tyranny.

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The Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution are documents which are designed to work together. They together hold the core values, beliefs and laws of the United States of America. The Declaration of Independence was written by the young Thomas Jefferson in 1776 when the people of America went to war against the invading armies of Britain. Britain had colonized America under the rule of King George III.

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Direct initiative is a form of direct democracy. America is usually a representative democracy, meaning that the citizens elect certain people to represent their ideas in the government. I think that direct democracy is more involving for the people and leaves less

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This country was founded with the attempt to separate the federal government and the state government, known as federalism. The goal of federalism is to divide the power of state and federal governments, protect the rights of the state, and prevent tyranny of the majority. Throughout the years, federalism turned into dual federalism where the state and federal government were completely independent of each other and only shared a dependency on the Constitution. The united states suppressing now to cooperative federalism, the national government has assumed even more power, overruling the states with Supreme Court decisions and actions, and executive Orders. Furthermore, the Federal government should grant their state governments more power, due to the connection the state governments hold with their local people.

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The United States government is best defined as a federal constitutional republic. As a constitutional republic, the U.S. government is organized by the Constitution, setting forth the political threshold of the people, which are known as the federal and state governments. As a federal republic, the control stands by the people throughout the voting process of electing the federal and state officials. The federal government is limited by the distribution of authority within the states as outlined in the Constitution. Although many people like to call the United States a democracy, this is not the case, because the public does not directly control legislation.

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In 1831 French sociologist and political theorist Alexis De Tocqueville and a lawyer he befriended named Gustave de Beaumont, spent nine months traveling around America studying its prisons and came back with a full report on the cultural, political and psychological life in America. While Beaumont wrote about the penitentiary system, Tocqueville focused more in the cultural and political life in America. He wrote two essays and published them in a book called Democracy in America. He discussed the possible threats to democracy and the possible dangers of democracy. He believed that religion and equality were the greatest ideas and they were the most advanced in the United States and that's why democracy worked so well in America.

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As a political system, a democracy is a formal way of making decisions in society, where everyone makes decisions and is informed. What we have here in the United States is a representative democracy. A representative democracy is in fact not a real democracy, the political system we have is a republic. In order to vote, you must meet certain qualifications, engage in discussion, and vote for representatives who want you to vote for them. The people with enough votes to get elected then get together and make decisions for our country.

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Not only is there a federal government, but there are also state and local governments. Furthermore, there are forms of government that function on a higher basis than local governments, but on a lower basis than state governments. Although the federal government has overall control on how the country functions, the other forms of government have a considerable impact on the laws of each area. All states have varying laws that lie along the same lines. For instance, the age to get a Driver’s license is not the same from state to state, but they are around the same age.

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Another form of democracy is a representative democracy, in which political power is exercised indirectly through elected representatives. Democracy suggests a nation has systematically built a fair government that conducts free, fair and regular elections.

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Each level of government directly affect individuals through their own laws, officials, and agencies. The advantages of a federal government are federal harmony while local governments handle local problems, the local governments and officials have to devote time to the citizens who elect them, and the central government can concentrate on state and worldwide issues. The disadvantages include arguments over power and national authority against state rights, foreign affairs; states may authorize laws that contradicts national policy, citizens in different areas in the country will be treated differently according to every states'

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