Direct Democracy

Wayne Mulei

Sept. 15, 2011

SOC 101

Response Paper 1

America’s Static Government

According to Webster’s Dictionary, Ethnocentrism is the belief in the superiority of the nation, culture, or group to which one belongs. It is believed that the United States’ form of government, representative democracy, is the best form of government. A representative democracy, as defined in Am Gov 2011 by Losco and Baker, is a form of government that restricts popular decision, or the will of the people, by making the general public elect officials who create public policy. In my opinion, this form of government is outdated. A direct democracy is a form of government that extends the political decision-making to every citizen, as opposed to a few elected individuals.

Ancient Greece practiced direct democracy; free citizens would make their opinions known in open-air assemblies. With today’s population, having every citizen give their opinion in an open-air assembly is somewhat impractical. However, with modern technology we can have a synthetic form of an open-air assembly through the internet. For every large issue, such as, going to war, we should authorize a national vote. Citizens would log into a secure web site, with all the safety and incorruptible measures that online banking web sites utilize, enter their social security number, and cast their vote on whether or not to start or participate in an ongoing war. We have the technology, to allow every citizen to make his or her voice heard. The national education level is at a point where the average citizen can make an educated vote on any number of important topics. The House of Representatives, where representatives are elected by the direct vote of the people, would need to stay in place to take care of the mundane business of running a country; however, changes would need to be made.

Each state should have equal vote in the House regardless of state population. We are “one country, indivisible” (Pledge of Allegiance 1892). If each state has equal representation in the House of Representatives and each citizen has a direct voice, through the power of voting, along with the government the nation would uphold the principles of the Declaration of Independence; therefore, having a direct democracy would be a practical and effective form of government.

Many people today feel that their vote does not matter so they do not vote. When the 2000 presidential is analyzed, it is hard to disagree with people who are discouraged about voting. In a direct democracy, an electoral college is not necessary. We have made large advances also in the way of communications; using this technology could avoid the debacle of the 2000, Bush vs. Gore election. According to the 2000 election results, Al Gore received 543,895 more general election votes than George W. Bush did. However, George W. Bush won the presidency because he had won more of the electoral votes.  How different would the world look today if in the January 2002 State of the Union address President Bush did not label Iraq as part of the “Axis of evil”? Would of the United States invade Iraq, against the wishes of the United Nations, if Al Gore were in office? Would Al Gore have looked at the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 as an act that required a response to invade Afghanistan, followed by Iraq, followed by Pakistan, or as an act of 19 people who wanted to do something really big and pay for it with their own lives? These questions are now left to speculation.

 The reason that direct democracy is not practiced in the United States today is because a representative democracy had already been established before we had developed the advances in technology that we currently enjoy. President Obama said in his September 8, 2011 Presidential address to Congress, “Americans are a strong, rugged, independent people.” I feel we do not need to be held back by tradition in a dynamic world. Americans should have a direct voice in American government. We are the people who have to fight the wars when there is a call to arms. Before me, and Americans like me, are sent half way around the world to kill someone that we do not even know, I want a say in the matter- a direct democracy would allow us to have that say.