Political Science Essay: Threats to Our Representative Democracy

Representative democracy also is known as psephocracy or indirect democracy which is a type of government where leadership rests on the elected individuals representing a given group of people contrary to direct democracy. In the current era of modernism, representative democracy is threatened everywhere globally due to the conception of power diffusion. At any point where the representative democracy is at stake, it implies that oligarchy which is the rule by the few is about to take over resulting in the formation of dictatorship government. Representative democracy, therefore, is core to effective governance of any nation and it is up to the government to ensure that its duties and responsibilities to the people do not haunt the leadership as it is the people themselves who are the fundamental aspect determining the stability or instability of the government (Skocpol and Hertel-Fernandez, 2016, p. 685). Trust to the leadership of any state is critical as the government must ensure that the people are educated, alleviated from poverty and have access to the nations resources. It is this and many other factors that the people consider and utilizes to determine whether to support its representative government or not.

Some reasons have been placed at the forefront as the critical elements threatening the representative democracy of any state and this include the following;

First is the increasing gap between the rich and the poor, which is poverty (Katzenstein and Maureen 2015, p. 646). The United States is believed to be the land of opportunities that offers equal chances which are unique to individuals making them change rags to riches. It is central belies of the American dream as determined by the architects of the nation but this is no more. The central core value of the state is becoming a myth as the level of disparity between the rich, and the poor is rising by the day. The question that disturbs making than people to doubt their representative government is the whereabouts of the resources, opportunities and the wealth of the nation. In other words, the bank of corruption and embezzlement of funds seems to be full, and that is unlawful and against the demands of any democratic country. Notably, in the United States, the income disparity between the rich and the poor is increasing, and this is based on the Gini index of inequality/equality and which considers it to be higher compared to any other first world democracies (The Oregon, 2014). Also, there is hereditary socioeconomic status or immobility in the United States, this is where the fathers financial potential is bound to reflect that of the son, reflecting the fact that, the poor mans son, will end up receiving poor education compared to that of the rich father hence the socioeconomic immobility aspect. The result of this is the inability of the nation to develop a strong intellectual capital hence political instability emanating from the parents and children who are not offered similar educational; opportunities as others hence breeding violence and frustrations. In such a circumstance, the public is bound to develop mistrust on the leadership hence will strive and use all the legal and constitutional means to change the power and turn it into the hands of the majority as that is the true democracy opposite to aristocracy (Elaine, 1996). To resolve this,l equal opportunities are to be offered so as to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor.

Secondly, the American political compromise has been declining in time with particular reference to the previous five years. The deterioration may be estimated due to the rising number of Senate rejection of the presidential nominees who initially had approvals that were routine. Also, the increasing application of filibusters by the minority party interferes with the number of bills and laws to be passed hence delaying the progress of the Congress is one of the common occurrences in the US legislature and this explains the level of political turmoil hence the threat to the representative government. The justifications for political compromise appears to be parallel raising levels of nastiness in specific aspects of the American life hence a subject of debate. Notably, the advent of technology, internet that has a limited face to face communication resulting in the development of partisan Television channels have also advanced the trend destabilizing the representative leadership of the nation. To resolve this threat, media should not be partisan but instead serve both parties regardless of individual interest.

Thirdly, the right to vote is increasingly restricted in the United States weighing disproportionately on the voters for a single party which is to be implemented at the State level by other existing parties (D'Alessio, 2015, p. 22). The major obstacles are difficulties during registration and the demand of the identity card when people present themselves for voting. For a long time, the United States has been on the record for being at the forefront in blocking the women and blacks from voting a reflection that they do not have a voting right hence interfering with their rights and freedom making them develop a negative attitude toward the government. In the past 50 years, the voter turn-out of United States began to be on the rise, but recently the reverse occurred, and the United States recorded the lowest voter turn-out in their history hence threatening the nations democracy is that it is a first world country.

According to Steven Friedman, in his recent book the measure of a nation, the number of unregistered voters recorded approximately 60% in the case of presidential, 40%for the congressional and 20% for the mayor elections. Notably, the elections are democratic processes that require funds and a lot of investment to ensure credibility is achieved. It is therefore expected that the public will participate in making the leadership decisions but in a situation where the citizens are not concerned, the clear communication is the fact that the leadership is rotten and people do not care about the government. Furthermore, it even implies that the elected leaders are not recognized by the people hence their representative position is not even democratic. It is a circumstance that indicates the fact that democracy is threatened and leaders are in a position to fulfill self-motivated objective but not the interest of the people. It can be resolved by upholding equal individual voting rights regardless of the race.

The fourth threat to the government representative democracy is the reduction in government funding of infrastructure, education, research, and development. The root and strength of the nation is its infrastructural development and education competence as that speaks volumes about the future of the state. A larger percentage of the American citizens perceive the governmental investment as socialism though it is not the reality since it has been established for a longer duration. Centuries ago since the period when governments were formed, the core functions of the governments had always been two that is, maintenance of internal peace by settling disputes, forbidding citizens from engaging in violence and monopolizing force and redistribution of individual wealth. When a countrys leadership fails to accomplish expected responsibilities to its people, it implies that it is fulfilling its motive besides the expectations of the community. In this regard, the representative position of the people is threatened due to recorded failures and lack of accountability on the part of the government.

The fifth aspect is the plutocracy or oligarchy which is the government under the leadership of the few rich individuals (Goss, 2016, p. 445). The current state of the United States may appear to be good in language as stated by the individuals supporting the Trump leadership but the reality is the fact that democracy in itself is threatened. The rights of the people to make a decision that they may feel comfortable with being taken away from them hence leaving only the rich with the potential to make decisions on behalf of the vast majority hence threating the sovereign will of the people which is the major element defining democracy of any state. Notably, since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, some elected people and senior individuals in the government have been fired for the reason that is not concrete. These people especially elected leaders, they represent the peoples desires and interests hence are not at any cost to be fired unless the public authorizes through the right procedure stated by the constitution.

Individuals currently in power believe in money as the source of power and therefore tends to impose selfish policies in the protection of their interest and will do anything to remove all the hindrances especially the officials who question their authority. For example, consider protectionist market policy imposed by the Trump government, it is beyond doubt that other emerging powerful nations might retaliate through another mechanism that might interfere with the economic status, but the question is who will suffer? The rich are sorted, but the poor still have to struggle to meet their daily needs which are not part of the concern of the nations leadership.

Finally, is the conception of apathy, truly, people have no interest in the democratic representation reason is that it is bound to result in no difference (Mavee, n.d, p. 137). In the United States, some social issues are experienced a day in day out, but the leadership is not making any strong stand about them. Issues of racial segregation, injustice, the killing of blacks, unemployment and environmental discrimination are common cases that need to be addressed, but no changes are implemented. Citizens are tired since among the leadership panel there is no one to count on, to trust with a problem or who can subject rational views and subject matters into multiple perspectives before acting.

Even though voting is a right, failure to vote is also a right. It would be prudent for all individuals regardless of the race to find something special for which to vote for, and at the same time, it threatens representative democracy for a white to find something to vote for and which is not conducive for the Blacks (Fredriksson, 2017, p. 47). Apathy is a killer to representative democracy, and for the first time, more than 60% of the Americans realized the absence of the need to vote due to the absence of the best leader who could create the right path for the entire nation to follow. Notably, the issue of power diffusion that is even currently faced is due to apathy and selfishness of the leaders, and all these threatens representative democracy

Annotated Bibliography

Skocpol, Theda, and Alexander Hertel-Fernandez. "The Koch network and republican party extremism." Perspectives on Politics 14.3 (2016): 681-699.

School and Alexander hold that the period for presidential election personalities, competent agendas, and attention are attracted, but they play no role in the political arena. They claim that it is important to ensure that the earthquakes, rough terrain and erosion in the political atmosphere do not blind people in the short run. Their assertion is based on research highlighting the changes in the political ground since 2000 and how they shape the position of the democrats and republicans. The consideration is made on the Koch network operating close to republicans highlighting the economic inequality and its implications. The article is relevant and valid since it is based on research. It is, therefore, suitable for further studies to bridge the identified gaps.

D'Alessio, Stephen. "Patterns of Controversy: The Factors that Influence the Passage of Voter Identification Laws." (...