Problems With Democracy in the USA - Essay Example

Democracy Today I have pondered the question of whether we still are a democracy and I have to say that the United s is no longer a democracy; in fact, many people believe that it is on the fringes of being a totalitarian state. The word democracy is taken from the Greek words demos "people" and kratos "rule" and it basically means that "we the people" are in charge of governing the government. According to the dictionary, it means that we elect officials to do the governing for us and it happens through a majority vote. This is what our country was set upon, but in the last eight years we have moved away from this format. Before I go on into this paper, I want to make it clear that it is not my intent to "bash" President Bush but in order to look at whether democracy is still working, we have to look at the highest office because that is where the laws and programs for the country are started. Since President Bush took office, the state of the nation has changed drastically and it has put the American people in a state of shock. There are many factors that have contributed to the demise of our democratic system. In a sense, covertly, things began to change after 9/11 and the bombing of the World Trade Center. This put the United States "on alert" and plans were made to find the people who had assaulted the country. Although no one ever took real responsibility for that act, most people attributed the attack to Osama Ben Laden. The United States never really found him nor made him responsible for this attack. Depending on who you talk to about this situation, the Bush Administration knew about this or they did not. According to Michael Moores video, "Fahrenheit 9/11" information is presented that says that President Bush knew about the attack. Whether he did or didnt, it set off some challenges in the country that eventually went to the War in Iraq. The President went against the judgment of the United Nations and went to War in the guise of finding Sad am Hussein. We found Sadam, he was executed and six years later we are still fighting the War under the guise that it is protecting our freedom in America. However, according to the video, "Why We Fight," by Eugene Jarecki, we are fighting over oil, not for freedom. These are all matters that the American people are upset about but they are not sure what to do. I bring these events together because life as we know it began to change with these events and others. President Bush was elected twice under circumstances that the American people suspected were not on the "up and up." No one challenged the elections and gas prices began to rise. The economy began to be strained by higher prices in groceries, utilities and other consumer goods and there seems to be no end in sight. According to Donovan (2003) we have serious problems with democracy. He quotes Dan Yankelovich, "a former pollster" who says "the most serious problems facing democracy today is that the public feels isolated from the political process" (par. 1). It used to be that people felt informed as to what the country was doing but now we have been pushed into a state of fear where we dont know what to do about anything. Donovans post goes on to state that the public is given information but doesn’t get to take part in any real decision making. "Political decisions are made on the basis of values and convictions --ideas about what are right and wrong--not information." (par. 2). And we are fed more information that doesn’t allow us to know what is really going on. Across the Internet there are all kinds of information telling us that we need to do something as Americans. As another example, the blog site "Americana" Justin points out that the American publish "favor cutting defense spending and reallocating it social services like health care or education. No one seems to be listening to them because the truth is, the public has very little control over public policy". (Justin, par. 10). As these posts say, we no longer have a voice. We couldnt even voice our real opinions when President first came into office. According to Johnson, "Bush lost the popular vote and was appointed president thanks to the intervention of the Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision." (Johnson, "Which Will"). The American public new something was wrong, but no one really knew what happened. The "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT ACT) Act of 2001", known by most people as "The Patriot Act" has further limited the freedoms of Americans. This act is in direct violation of The U.S. Constitution in many ways, but particularly in Amendment IV-Search and Seizure: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. (Mount, US Constitution, Amendment IV). The Patriot Act allows search and seizure without a warrant if they "reasonably believe" that an individual has knowledge of a terrorist act. The Act reads very detailed and is so long that most people wont read it. In fact, most of the Congressmen and women didnt read it as it went into law. However, it seems that there are many ways to not "technically" have to follow the law. It seems that when President Bush needs to change something, he just writes another law. This gives him more power to do what he wants. An interesting example was in the British news recently about a "secret plan" to keep Iraq under US control. This is something that is in the works and it makes me wonder as an American, "Why?" According to this article, we have 151,000 troops in Iraq and they would have exclusive rights to military bases. They also would be able to arrest Iraqi people but would be immune to Iraqi laws (Cockburn, 2008, par. 5). Politically this would declare a win in Iraq and upset the next presidential election. The challenge here is that President Bush is basically doing whatever he wants without the say of the American public. Each time we have protested anything, all he has to do is say "were fighting terrorism" and everyone is quiet again. In the movie, "Why We Fight?" (Jurecki, 2005) a point was made that we were moving towards a mini-totalitarian state. George Washington (according to the film) warned against standing armies in his day because it can "create a rise of imperial presidency" (Jerecki, "Why We Fight"). Is this where we are headed? Right now we have 725 military bases in 130 countries. You have to ask yourself "Why?" The upcoming presidential election is tenuous at best. With the democrats fighting between a woman and a black man it was easy to see that the country is worried. Many people want Barack Obama but depending on what happens in Iraq, he may or may not be able to do what he says he will do. According to Cockburn, But the accord also threatens to provoke a political crisis in the US. President Bush wants to push it through by the end of next month so he can declare a military victory and claim his 2003 invasion has been vindicated. But by perpetuating the US presence in Iraq, the long-term settlement would undercut pledges by the Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama, to withdraw US troops if he is elected president in November. (par. 3). The timing of the agreement would also boost the Republican candidate, John McCain, who has claimed the United States is on the verge of victory in Iraq – a victory that he says Mr. Obama would throw away by a premature military withdrawal. (par. 4). To me, this should be something that comes back to the American people. Do we really want to be this engaged in another country when it has these types of ramifications to America? The other point is that we are going to other countries and fighting a war but we are not doing anything to help people in the United States. The more we are in Iraq the more money we are spending on the military and the more we have higher prices here in the United States. I dont see that any American political system is working right now. Bills are being sent through Congress and they are basically allowing President Bush to do what he wants to do. According to US Constitution online, a bill " a bill must pass both houses of Congress by a majority vote. After it has passed out of Congress, it is sent along to the President. If the President signs the bill, it becomes law."( Section, "How"). However, what has happened in the last few years is that every time a bill goes though if President Bush doesn’t agree with it 100% or if Congress hasnt allowed him to have something he wants, he vetoes the bill. This is not effective. When we think about whether the political system is working, another aspect of this process is to look at the news today. Right now, in Congress, there is a movement to impeach President Bush. There are so many reasons that people state for this action from the torture of Iraqi people who were listed as "prisoners" to the fact that violation of criminal laws. With this much going on it is too difficult to think that anything is working well. According to Holtzman (2006): These concerns [torture scandals, violation of criminal laws], have been compounded by growing evidence that the President deliberately misled the country into the war in Iraq. But it wasnt until the most recent revelations that President Bush directed the wiretapping of hundreds, possibly thousands, of Americans, in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)--and argued that, as Commander in Chief, he had the right in the interests of national security to override our countrys laws… As a matter of constitutional law, these and other misdeeds constitute grounds for the impeachment of President Bush (par. 4-5). However, this effort that is now being pushed by Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich to impeach President Bush was sent to the Judiciary Committee and they arent meeting on it right away. This is how sad it is for someone to try and fix this situation. Kucinich says he will bring this back within 30 days. Even the newspapers think this is a good idea. According to the Baltimore Sun, Bob Fertik, president of Democrats.com, congratulated Kucinich on his historic leadership. He was quoted saying, Weve waited seven years to find one Member of Congress brave enough to stand up for our Constitution, for which generations of Americans have fought and died," Fertik added that "We are thrilled and honored that Dennis Kucinich has chosen to be that one genuine patriot. (Baltimore Sun as quoted in King, par. 5-6). All of this information adds up to the fact that we arent doing very well as a Nation. We are not a government by the people anymore and people are hoping that we can get back to that with a new president. In some respects it seems that we are too far gone to go back. We are being laughed at by other countries, the dollar is no longer a viable means of exchange, and our country is moving further and further into recession -- all though President Bush will not admit this fact. It is clear that the United States has become something different than a democratic society. Some say it is a dictatorship, some say it is moving towards totalitarian. The question though is how much more will the American public be able to take before they strike out in a big way? Time will only tell but in the meantime, we are all trying to survive. References Chalmers, J. (02 February 2007). Which will it be America, empire or democracy? Are we still a democracy weblog. Retrieved June 15, 2008 from http://arewestillademocracy.blogspot.com/2007/02/which-will-it-be-america- empire-or.html. Cockburn, P. (5 June 2008). Revealed: Secret plan to keep Iraq under US control Bush wants 50 military bases, control of Iraqi airspace and legal immunity for all American soldiers and contractors. The Independent-World. Retrieved June 16, 2008 from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/revealed- secret-plan-to-keep-iraq-under-us-control-840512.html. Donovan, P. (6 July 2003). The most serious problem of democracy today. Retrieved June 15, 2008 from http://www.managingwholes.com/democracy-problem- p.html. Holtzman. E. (11 January 2008). The impeachment of George W. Bush. The Nation. Retrieved June 16, 2008 from http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060130/holtzman. Justin. (06 July 2006). A look at the documentary "Why We Fight?" Americana Spinning Political Crackpottery weblog. Retrieved June 15, 2008 from http://www.iq.harvard.edu/blog/sss/archives/2007/05/. King, J. (09 June 2008). Kucinich reads impeachment articles against Bush on house floor. SalemNews.com. Retrieved June 15, 2008 from http://www.salem- news.com/articles/june092008/kucinich_6-9-08.php Mount, Steve (e.d.). (n.d.). How A Bill Becomes Law. US Constitution online. Retrieved June 16, 2008 from http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Am4. ---. US Constitution online. Retrieved June 16, 2008 from http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Am4. United States Department of Justice. (2002). Searching and Seizing Computers and Obtaining Electronic Evidence in Criminal Investigations. Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. Retrieved June 15, 2008 from http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/s&smanual2002.htm Why We Fight. Dir. Eugene Jarecki. Perf. Ken Adelman, John Ashcroft. Documentary DVD. Sony Pictures, 2005. Read More