Definition of American Democracy - Report Example

American Democracy From the basic definition, the terminology democracy refers to an ideal way of governance where a society’smembers are allowed to contribute on ideas considered when formulating rules and regulations of governance within that same social setting. In the national level, democracy means the ideal state where a nation’s citizens are given the opportunity to participate in the structuring of government policies including the legislative principles and actions of state authorities. Further illustrations of this term refer to democracy as a political structure of mechanisms integrated with social aspects of managing the social, political, and economical aspects of a population. At national level politics, democracy usually involves the participation of citizens in the major decision making processes of a nation (Patterson, 2009p.90). The commonly used term associated with democratic politics is the parliamentary democracy. This refers to the representation of people by the politicians in national decision-making exercises. The ideal democracy mechanism is supposed to operate under some standard principles in the process of public administration. In its actual practice, democracy may conform or differs to some of the principles advocated for by the guidelines guiding ideal democracy. In this juncture, we may be interested in providing an insight into the major principles of democracy and then extrapolate discussion into checking out the application of democracy in American state administration services (Tilly, 2007p.138). One of the most fundamental elements of democracy is concerning the aspect of citizens’ rights. Ideal democracy asserts the element of basic human right to every individual within a given state. In this context, every citizen of a democratic nation has some certain basic human rights entitled to him/her and which cannot be taken away by the state. Some major human rights embraced by democratic ideology include a right to religious beliefs, a right of access to information among others. All these rights are acknowledged internationally. The other major principle of democracy is federalism. Federalism entails the process of decentralization of authority by the main state authority. Ideally, the head government in a democratic state should handle huge administration tasks like national security and international trade policies. However, the state powers should be decentralized to local authorities like the metropolitan councils as much as possible (Hushaw, 2010p.62). This aspect of federalism facilitates the attainment of democracy goals like national unity and distribution of resources in an equitable manner. The third element of democracy is the separation of powers and judicial independence. This principle advocates for the separation of state powers concerning the legislative body and the judiciary. This element ensures that a nation’s lawmakers are not in a position to interfere with the implementation of the same laws they make. The other main element of this system of governance is the recognition of the rule of law in a population. Ideal democracy asserts that the rules and regulations made by the legislative body and other authorities should be applied equally and fairly to every citizen of a state without favor or discrimination (Patterson, 2009p.82). Application of democracy within a social context could depict numerous conformity or disparities with the ideal principles of democracy. In the context of American democracy, certain elements of ideal principles are considered to have some merits and demerits in national governance. One of the conformity cases between American democracy and the ideal democracy is on the element of citizens’ rights. American government upholds the basic rights of every citizen and does not relate with its citizens in a manner likely to contradict this principle (Patterson, 2009p.45). In addition, the American democratic institutions allow the application of the rules and regulations to every subject in a fair manner without fear or favor. However, American democracy does not embrace the federalism principle of ideal democratic ideology. In fact, the US government advocates for centralization of power among its major administrative institutions. This aspect of centralization is meant to amalgamate the main social and political values of the American population. Decentralization of power to local authorities may contribute to non-uniformity in the major social issues within a society. Therefore, centralization of power will ensure uniformity and social morality within the entire nation. As it is known, politics is a subjective discipline, which depends on the personal and social beliefs and values on an individual. As a result, the people within the same social setting or within the same nation may have different positions concerning a political aspect. Acknowledgement of these rational sentences allows us to introduce the concept of political spectrum in democracy. The political spectrum is a graphical model used to depict the various political positions with regard to the convictions concerning some common values and beliefs. Political spectrum indicates an individual side when it comes to decision making on some major political, economical, and social aspects of a society or a nation. The two major political divisions in the ideal political spectrum are the liberalism and the conservatism. Both the terms were defined during the early political ears of the 18th and 19th centuries. They explicitly portrayed the position of a politically concerned individual in terms of the side he/she chooses over a hotly contested political topic. These two political terminologies derive their principles and beliefs from the underlying concepts that define each political position (Miller & Vandome, 2008p.261). Now, we can look into the principle disparities that emerge between liberalism and conservatism. Conservatism is a political ideology, which advocates for the preservation and maintenance of the traditional styles of administration. Conservatism calls for minimal or limited change to social administrative structures and mechanisms (Patterson 2009p.53). On the other hand, liberalism philosophy advocates for the promotion of equality and basic human rights within a society. Liberals advocates for the aspects of democracy and constitutionals, between other freedom and equality aligned principles. This political ideology also allows the adjustment of administrative mechanisms to suite the prevailing social, economical, and political situations within a nation. Some of the principles advocated for by the liberals within the context of democracy include capitalism, free religion and fair elections (Miller & Vandome, 2008p.27). In the case of American political spectrum, I associate myself with liberal position, and I am indifferent with conservatism. Liberal politics facilitates the realization of the main principles of ideal democracy, compared to conservatism, which chooses to belief in rigid administration systems of governance. One of the social values that align me with liberal political position concerns the aspect of abortion. In my own opinion, I support the rights of women to be accorded a chance to decide their conduct concerning their bodies. According to my belief, a fetus cannot be compared to a human life. In this regard, it cannot be treated with the same privileges that pertains human rights. Therefore, termination of a pregnancy through abortion should not constitute a murder case. In this context, I conform to the liberalism views of abortion whereby they advocate for the administration of safe abortions to any concerned woman within the US society (Tilly, 2007p.72). In the economic platform and specifically on environmental matter, I discredit the continual use of oil as the main source of energy in America. Oil and other petroleum products are the major contributors to the problem of carbon emission. My position on this issue is that the government should roll out campaigns meant to address the issue of pollution caused by petroleum products. The government should invest in research studies aimed at providing knowledge on the other forms of energy that pose little threat to the environment compared to oil products. With regard to the political spectrum, liberalists are advocates for the same principle of pollution caused by oil. They are encouraging the government to address the matter rationally based on the findings from the energy research. On the other hand, Conservatisms asserts that the government should develop programs that will facilitate an increase of oil production in America. These two social and economic cases among others, aligns me with the position of liberalism in the political spectrum (Hushaw, 2010p.53). References Hushaw, W. (2010). Liberalism vs. conservatism; liberty vs. authority. Sydney: W.C. Brown Book Co. Miller, P & Vandome, A. (2008). Political Spectrum. California: VDM Publishing House Ltd. Patterson, T. (2009).The American Democracy. New York: McGraw-Hill. Tilly, C. (2007). Democracy. London: Cambridge University Press. Read More