Mass movements begin when protest politics influences many passive citizens to become active participants. Throughout American history, mass movements have played a crucial role in democracy. Therefore, mass movements are necessary in the United States as the best democracy in the world because they always focus on the citizens. The positive features mass movements contribute to popular democratic politics is that it lets people be directly involved in the political process through letting them be heard. However, the limitations mass movements bring in reform is that they don’t strive toward reforming political structures. First of all, mass movements are necessary because they bring greater equality to all citizens including the unrepresented ones, to the political system. People with no money and political strength can use protesting methods to achieve power in the political system. According to Mirroff’s The Democratic Debate, mass movements help these unrepresented citizens use protest tactics to help bring an awareness of an issue and then helps them gain power in the political system. One prominent example of citizens being successful …show more content…
239, Miroff). Mass movements ultimately put pressure on the elites who often times repressed movements. Having people directly involved is a positive feature to popular democratic parties because participation is essential. They “provide a way to overcome the inertia created by the elaborate system of checks and balances established by the Constitution,” and makes people become “better citizens” (pg. 244, Miroff) Through being able to overcome this inertia means that they participate more putting their issues on the political