The Progressive View and the Challenges of a Flawed Democracy - Research Paper Example

Progressive Democracy The founding father of the nation envisioned a society ruled through a representative of thepeople elected in a democratic manner. The course has continued since the declaration of independence. The government comprises of the executive headed by the president, and the legislature tasked with legislation of the country laws. The legislature comprises of two houses, a senate and the house of representative. The state’s governments are represented in the upper house while the constituents in the lower house. The government and legislature has represented the ideal of democracy and has prevailed for the test of time. Nevertheless, democracy as an American idealism for better services and transparency has been wanting in other sector. This paper discusses the progressive view and the challenges of a flawed democracy. The political party competition championed the spirit of democracy and the freedom of the people in early 20th century. In 1912, the presidential contenders campaigned on a platform of respect for people’s right and democracy. They urged voters to consider electing people who agitated for democratic right. Winston won the presidency because he had a progressive agenda. He won the election fighting for a progressive democracy given the country was undergoing difficulties brought by the Industrial Revolution (Milkis, 2012). The political party during the early 20th century were grappling with the threat of democracy. According to Tocqueville, the local government were the groundwork for democracy (Milkis, 2012). However, federal government was flawed by the influence of large corporations. The corporations influence the day to day running of government because their candidates run over the government. It is these flaws that political parties viewed as a threat to democracy. They rallied their supporter on the promise of introducing trust laws that checked on their activities. The industrial revolution came with the emergence of prominent business men who were opulence and connected to political leaders. This period referred to as the ‘Gilded Age’ left the industrial workers and subsistence farmers vulnerable of exploitation. The business men corrupted the methods of government and neglected the plight of workers. This was a threat to democracy and Democrats leaders as well as Republicans were viewed to be irresponsible and pursuing their own interest (Milkis, 2012). Democracy has been practiced since the ancient Greeks. The fall of Berlin Wall and the demise of the former Soviet Union show that democracy is an ideal over dictatorship. It is practised by three quarters of the world nations and even nation like China and Iran see them as practising democracy. Proponents of democracy praise it as the best system of governing through representation and involvement of the majority. However, Thomas Jefferson argued that it was a tyranny of fifty plus that ruled over the minority. Moreover, Winston Churchill argued that democracy was the worst practise of government though well above the rest. He was expressing his discontentment of democracy. The flaws of democracy are evidenced by the much freedom that people have. The right to a choice of marriage has threatened the tradition family unit. People are now allowed to marry people of their choice. Early philosophers were against the ideas of democracy. They argued that democracy was flawed because it allowed unlimited liberty and allowed too much freedom. According to Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes and Plato democracy degenerate to anarchy and threaten the being of society. Plato also argued that the existence of unchecked freedom amount to the death of democracy. The success of democracy has enabled the rise of manipulation of the system by political leaders to create chaos and anarchy so that they can pursue their interest in leadership. Some politician has hidden agenda which with time go against the tenet of democracy. According to Fischer (2013) the American democracy is ending. The architect of the democracy envisioned a system of checks on the government, but the Tea party has defied these measures by blockades of government programs. It is rarely for an opposition to have a majority in the House of Representative as is today. A single candidate in the senate can now delay legislation and deny government vote required to pass policy legislations (Fischer, 2013). According to Pillar, 2012 American democracy does not have accountability. People support their government in key decisions such as war, taxation and social programs, but when such program fail to achieve their intended mission people turn against their leader. Pillars disapprove this because the people should be accountable first before condemning the government. To achieve accountability in democracy, time must be given until when the damage is enormous. Democracy is flawed because people do not have the ability to judge and determine who between the incumbent or former President is responsible for current shortcoming in the country. The current President inherited an economic crisis and a country managing two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The effect of these two scenarios has made the work of President Obama difficult. His government has created jobs, but they are not enough and people judge him for the current situation. The Republican are benefiting from the harm their candidate did to the country. This is undemocratic and a flawed way of accountability (Pillar, 2012). Political leaders always have much interest in forming the next government and their decisions are almost guided by their interests. This led Republican legislature rejecting legislation that would improve the economy by creating new jobs or lowering taxes on the middle class. Political enemies of the ruling party are guided by ideologies that fight policies of the government. Before the 2012 presidential election, the Republican vowed to do whatever possible to prevent the re-election of President Barrack Obama. Political interest, therefore, subverts the essence of democratic accountability (Pillar, 2012). In the last general election, the country experienced undemocratic experiences in the electoral democracy. The meaning of the dollar was evidence in the political party spending. Millions of dollars were spent to sway the result of the vote (Pillar, 2012). The Supreme Court having ruled earlier that elected leaders represent the people and not land or trees. This has affected financiers of election and they lack return on their outlay. However, the question that many people ponder is where their role is in the running of the government. Nevertheless, the architects of campaign for the president negotiate for inclusion of individual who contribute much to the government party. Democracy was born on the premise of ensuring accountability and equity. However, the same process has been stubbornly hindering the provision of services to the people. Democracy relies on strong bureaucracies that oversee the legislation and learning of government. Important decisions that would help the country are rejected on the premise of democracy. Therefore, it is an expensive exercise that requires discussions consultation before decisions are made. The progressive democracy has demonstrated that democracy need to progress to an accountable process. It should be free from manipulation and should not reward the people who bend the laws to their advantage. Furthermore, democracy needs to serve the people and not the financier of political parties in the run up to election. The progressive democracy tries to argue the flaws of the process. As Plato argued, democracy is its own destroyer. This statement is true because checks that the founding father envisioned has been neglected and ignored to ensure smooth running of government. This has created loophole that political leaders use to reward individual and corporation that affiliate to the party in government. The dissenting voices for progressive democracy are strongly persuading and seek to correct the flaws that affect democracy. References Fischer, S and Pataki, M. (2013). Failure: US Democracy is Nearing its Limits. Retrieved from < http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/commentary-us-budget-shutdown-has-exposed-deep-political-flaws-a-928393.html>. Milkis, Sidney. (2012). The Transformation of American Democracy. Retrieved from http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/06/the-transformation-of-american-democracy-teddy-roosevelt-the-1912-election-and-the-progressive-party. Pillar, Paul. (2012). Flawed Accountability in American Democracy. Retrieved from . Read More