ipl-logo

The Pros And Cons Of Direct Democracy

448 Words2 Pages

Direct Democracy was the direct involvement of the people to the state government. Supporters of direct democracy say that it limits the influence of politically powerful lobbies and businesses; which is why progressives agree that direct democracy is educating the public in politics. Calls for reform peaked in the Progressive Era due to the public's call for more political involvement; in 1908 progressives amended the state constitution to allow initiatives, referendums, and recall election. The supporters state that California’s recall election is challenging the American democracy, allowing them to be in direct charge of what they would like in a government. Studies have even shown that giving the citizens an option to run their government, or have choices, proved beneficial as it had a positive effect on the voters engagement in the government. Citizens who are exposed to politics are more engaged, informed, and confident than citizens living in initiative states. …show more content…

This occurred during the 2003 California Recall Election, where Republican activist gathered 1.2 million signatures to launch a special election to replace the governor. By the people trying to solve the problem of replacing a governor, they will instead cause another problem of having inexperienced legislature, which can leave the government open to corruption. They also argued that the recall election means that the Californian government has too much power in the hands of the public. Which can have disastrous effects as the voters are not aware of the work the goes in behind the scenes; they don’t understand the complications of the money, time, and affects, their ideas will do. The more you substitute a popular election for checks and balances, the more you go against the

Show More
Related
2144 Words | 9 Pages

March 21, 2016 Jessica Sanford ! 1 Maintaining American Democracy Not Through Reform (PG Independent Study) Introduction In Reforming the Republic - Democratic Institutions for the New America Todd Donovan and Shaun Bowler discuss the necessity to reform the American electoral process and ways in which it could be done. Although the article discusses in depth how and why civil participation and trust in the government are severely lacking, it does not pose a convincing argument for codifying a new electoral process through changes to the Constitution, nor does it present specific paths to take for change. Their overarching argument is this: the American electoral system must be reformed through amending the Constitution in order to increase

Read More
151 Words | 1 Pages

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.

Read More
716 Words | 3 Pages

So basically, a direct democracy gives the power to the people. A representative would not be needed, and the people would feel as though they matter! A direct presidential election would also prevent the idea of the government ignoring the people’s wishes as in the recent 2016 presidential election. 2.

Read More
851 Words | 4 Pages

Now, there are a lot of people was worried about the system, because there are too many problems of their government. And also huge people complain about the racism and the guns. So there are some representatives want to use the direct democracy like some old country such as ancient Greek. On the other hand, direct democracy is not a good chose for America. Now I will tell you that why direct democracy is not work in America.

Read More
63 Words | 1 Pages

In a direct democracy, the decisions are made by popular vote, directly. In an indirect democracy, the people elect representatives who then make the decisions or cast votes. For example, the US uses an indirect democracy to elect a president, choosing electors who in turn choose the candidate. Similarly, in a representative republic, we elect legislators who then vote to determine the

Read More
901 Words | 4 Pages

American Democracy has always been founded on the principle of separation of powers. It has been the hallmark of the Constitution, which created the strongest example of “the celebrated [Montesquieu’s]” original theory of tripartite governance in The Spirit of Natural Laws. While political leaders may be hungry for unlimited power to abuse the innocent, they are structurally hindered and combated by those willing to serve justice in other branches of government. This simple notion was a radical design in 1787, when a French monarch ruled absolutely in the midst of oncoming rebellion and the King George III ignored the pleas of his subjects in the Americas. The United States Constitution is deliberately inefficient with the doctrine of separation of powers in order to preserve justice and security for its citizens

Read More
210 Words | 1 Pages

When we talk about government, we talk about the most horrible type of it, which is definitely dictatorship. However, the best one is a representative democracy/ republic, well in my opinion. What is a representative democracy/ republic? The republic has many different ways it rules the nation.

Read More
695 Words | 3 Pages

Over the past several years, the federal government has faced multiple impending shutdowns, economic crisis, scandals, and legislative stagnation. One can clearly see the need of government reform and the greater involvement of the American people. As described in the “Direct Democracy via the Web”, one method in increasing the involvement of the American people is by direct democracy through the internet. Direct democracy allows the people to represent themselves in the government and have a greater influence in the legislative process. In order to establish a direct democracy, the framework of the Constitution must be amended or restructured.

Read More
586 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
690 Words | 3 Pages

Many people have often wondered how politicians would organize legislative activity if given the chance to start anew and make things the way they want them. The Progressive takeover of governmental activities in California in 1910 presented a unique opportunity to study such a phenomenon in its natural occurring state. The Progressives made it as hard as they could to crush the party system and to keep it from returning. In particular, “they made it nearly impossible for party activists outside government to organize, coordinate actions, keep informed about legislative activities, or, perhaps most importantly, influence party nominations to office.”

Read More
553 Words | 3 Pages

Although the United States is not a direct democracy the Constitution established popular sovereignty to insure that the people hold the most political power; and today, participatory democracy is exercised. When citizens elect representatives, their job is to represent the views of the people. Fair representation is in the best interest of these officials because they want to get reelected. Today participatory democracy allows Americans to vote for representatives who will make decisions they agree with. In the House of Representatives, elected members represent their districts, speaking for their people as a voice on the House floor.

Read More
392 Words | 2 Pages

“When I die” Aunt Sal quips loudly “I want something important for my obituary.” She looks up, her eyes following the electrical lines which run directly over the swimming pool in her backyard. I used to dream about those wires crashing down while I swam laps and for a while I refused to swim in Sal’s pool. But, now, I figure that I’m more likely to pick up an exotic disease there than have an electrified wire snap apart and fry me to death. Sometimes, you just have to narrow your fears down to a few major ones.

Read More
380 Words | 2 Pages

More causes of the progressive movement were the corruption in the political system and regulation of monopolies. “One of the first objectives of progressives was to regain the power that had slipped from the hands of the people into those of the "interests." These ardent reformers pushed for direct primary elections so as to undercut power-hungry party bosses. They favored the "initiative" so that voters could directly propose legislation themselves, thus bypassing the boss-bought state legislatures” ( VII. The American Pageant.)

Read More
1337 Words | 6 Pages

In Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, it talks about democracy in America and its strengths and weaknesses. Having seen the failed attempts at democratic government in his home country of France, Tocqueville wanted to study a stable and prosperous democracy to gain insights into how it worked. His studies led him to conclude that the movement toward democracy and equality of conditions‹ was a universal phenomenon and a permanent historical tendency that could not be stopped. Since this democratic trend was inevitable, Tocqueville wanted to analyze it in order to determine its strengths and dangers so that governments could be formed to reinforce democracy 's strengths while counteracting its weaknesses. Even though Democracy in America

Read More
874 Words | 4 Pages

Web 2.0 has revolutionized the panorama of the information society: users have become information creators and the new web platforms have become relationship venues where new knowledge and ideas emerge. Is this participation really democratic? Or is this a democracy paradox? Where everyone can interact but the decision making places are all outside the net? Does the participation on the web rather helps the citizens or the Governments and Companies?

Read More

More about The Pros And Cons Of Direct Democracy

Related Topics

Open Document