Name:
Institution:
Course:
Tutor:
Date:
American Government and Politics
Introduction
Democracy is a conception that has undergone dynamic changes since historical times. Currently, it is defined by a fair and active representation of the public in governance. Political governance is a sensitive issue and needs to be accorded utmost attention in order to enhance sustainable living. Notably, there are various factors that are used to define a democratic mode of government. Besides equity, the constitution and mode of governance play an integral role in shaping democracy. Equally important is the role of the media that shapes the public and political opinions and perceptions. All these aspects interplay to form an intricate and augmenting relationship that defines the type of governance that a country adopt as well as the inherent level of democracy. It is against this background that this paper provides an explicit analysis of American government and politics in light of equity, human diversity, the constitution, model of democratic government and the role of the media in democratic governance.
Equality is in most instances is considered an important aspect of democracy and populations hold it in high regard. It can not be disputed that it is a multifaceted conception that is used in different circumstances to support a wide range of causes. From a political point of view, Janda, Berry, Goldman and Hula (2008) indicate that equality is defined by every citizen having a single vote and having all votes counted equally after the election process. However, this definition is compounded by economic concerns. In most instances, the public generally perceives the rich to have an upper hand with regards to politics than their poor counterparts. This is because of the fact that wealth gives the rich more influence and more often than not, their activities tend to be more pronounced than those of the poor. With respect to the social perspective, equality entails having the same potential with respect to wealth, status and education. Janda et al (2008) indicates that this is essential for attaining political equity. This can be attributed to the recognition that these factors are vital in empowering individual and according them the ability to influence a host of activities.
Social equality is also viewed in terms of providing each individual with equal opportunities as well as ensuring equal outcomes. Equality of opportunity implies that all segments of the population are given a similar chance to lead a successful life. Janda et al (2008) ascertains that this conception is a mainstream factor in American culture. In particular, the American constitution shuns nobility titles and wealth is not considered fundamental for holding any public office. In addition, important public institutions such as schools and libraries are often free to the entire public. A significant percentage of the population believes that social equality constitutes giving all people an equal opportunity to advance in life. Yet others liken true social equality to the concept of equality of outcome. This requires that all people are equal. The government in this regard is charged with the responsibility of designing policies that need to be employed in redistributing wealth as well as status. Ultimately, this contributes significantly to achieving social and economic equity. Equality of outcome is also connected to rights that are supported by the government and which the entire public is entitled. Notably, government participation in the later is much more than in the preceding conceptions. At this point, it can not be disputed that equality as a vital component of democracy is indeed a complex conception.
Currently, it cannot be disputed that the US population is increasingly becoming diverse in nature. The inherent diversity is apparent in light of age, education, gender, ethnicity, culture, religion, lifestyle and so forth. This implies that the personal attitudes, perceptions and value systems are also different because of the recognition that these are in most instanced greatly influenced by the preceding factors. The government is faced with the challenge of ensuring that all these all these factors are addressed accordingly and the rights of certain populations are not infringed upon. In order to attain this, there is dire need to customize the mode of governance in a bit to ensure that all the requirements of the diverse population are addressed by the constitution. Notably, a single mode of governance can not be able to address the multiple concerns in an effective manner. It is therefore imperatively important for the government to use different modes of governance whose respective strengths reconcile the weaknesses of others.
The majoritarian and pluralist forms of governance have been identified by Janda et al (2008) to be ideal. Specific attributes of each need to be integrated and tailored to strike a balance and coherence in governance. In particular, as much as the majoritarian rule needs to be employed in democratic governance by allowing people to participate in elections and governance through defined political parties and programs respectively, the pluralist mode of governance should also be used to ensure that the welfare of minority populations is safeguarded. This would enable the government to attain and be able to exercise utmost democracy.
During the fashioning of the US constitution, the framers advanced the principles of checks and balances, federalism, separation of powers and republicanism in their efforts to establish a distinct political order. Essentially, republicanism denotes a form of governance in which the vital power resides in the general public but is exercised by specific representatives that are elected by these people (Janda et al, 2008). This was desirable as it sought to eliminate aristocracy, direct democracy and monarchy that were disregarded by the framers.
The federalism principle postulated that the division of the given power between two institutions; regional units and central government. This makes the citizens that are governed by the particular law subject to two law bodies. Regardless of this, it is worth appreciating that the national government was given more power than the state governments. Nonetheless, the people are given ultimate sovereignty and have the power to restrain both the national and state governments. This is made possible through amendment of their governing charters and active participation in the process of election.
Regarding the principle of separation of powers, the function of law making, enforcement and interpretation is accorded separate government branches; the legislative, executive and judiciary respectively. Finally, checks and balances principle encompasses according each and every branch of government a certain ability to scrutinize as well as have control over all other branches. This was aimed at avoiding incidences of exclusive exercise of specific powers by any of the government branches. Notably, these principles were aimed at enhancing democracy and at the same time according the public ultimate sovereignty. In addition, these sought to strike a balance amongst the different governing bodies and prevent possible conflicts with regards to governance.
As aforementioned, the majoritarian and pluralist models of governance contribute differently to democracy. There assumptions with regard to the importance of public opinion in a democratic government have been identified to differ considerably. In particular, the majoritarian model indicates that the government needs to pursue measures that the public want. In this regard, it should be acknowledged that the public under this form of democracy has massive influence on the political decisions that are adopted by the government. However, pluralist democracy indicates that in most instances, the general public does not demonstrate clear and consistent issues while addressing daily and emergent issues of the government.
Moreover, pluralists are cognizant of the fact that different subgroups that constitute the public often express a wide range of opinions regarding specific matters vigorously. They therefore require that the relevant government institutions provide viable environments that can enable the minority segment of the population to express their opinions freely. In this consideration Janda et al (2007) maintains that democracy can only be attained when the personal and different opinions of various segments of the public conflict over government policy openly.
Although the majoritarian rule postulates that the government needs to address the public concerns, emergent research indicates that this seldom happens. Current trends show that unlike the public, political leaders have over time acquired the capacity to influence public thought. This contradicts the expectations of this policy because political leaders, as opposed to the public influence most of the policies that are enacted by the government. This trend can be attributed to the economic disparities as well as the influence of the media that make the politicians’ opinions popular than the opinions of the public. Thus from a practical point of view, this ideology has dismally failed to attain its goal. In contrast, it can not be disputed that the rise of powerful groups that represent varied views of minority populations has contributed significantly to a state of democracy. This is because the respective groups force the government to adopt the concerns of the populations that they represent through policy formulations. This conforms to the prepositions of the pluralist model and therefore ascertains that unlike the former the latter’s assumptions are correct because they are reflective of the public opinion.
With the recent technological advancements, it is certain that the media plays an integral role in informing the public about a wide range of issue. Statistical evidence indicates that this has had massive implications on public opinion on different social and political matters as well as the attitudes and values that the general public upholds. The media is instrumental in underscoring and evaluating the political agenda. According to Janda et al (2008), this constitutes diverse issues that are expected to be discussed and debated by the government officials. This directly influences the decision of the government in this regard once the issues have been brought to light. Further, the media has played a leading role in influencing the government to address varied scientific concerns. In particular, issues pertaining to AIDS, human cloning and global warming have been increasingly highlighted by the media.
Governments have been pressurized to address the inherent moral concerns in a timely manner. In this consideration, the media can be considered instrumental in enhancing and advocating for ethical moral values. These have been effective in molding the value system that the population ultimately assumes. Likewise, social concerns such as child abuse have also been commonly highlighted by the media. At this juncture, it can be ascertained that the media greatly influences public opinion and attitudes in different ways. It is also at the center stage with regards to influencing political decisions. However, it is worth noting that in some instances, the media has had a negative impact on the value system of the society. For instances, it has in some instances influenced the government to allocate resources in a faulty manner. This can be attributed to its undue emphasis on social aspects such as crime that do not contribute positively to development.
Conclusion
From the preceding analysis, it can be ascertained that democracy is a complex issue that comprises of various factors. Social, economic and political equity contribute significantly to sustainable growth. This is because of their ability to give citizens an equal footing in addressing diverse factors. Increasing diversity of the American society calls for a customized mode of government in order to effectively address the various concerns of specific populations. A viable constitution needs to draw upon different models in a bit to tailor the most ideal model of democratic governance. The constitution plays an instrumental role in meeting this goal. During its development the framers captured the republicanism, federalism, checks and balances and separation of powers principles in order to enhance equitable governance.
As it has come out from the study, the pluralist assumptions regarding public opinion in governance is correct as opposed to the majoritarian model’s assumptions that are impracticable and faulty. Finally, the media can be complemented for shaping public and political opinions as well as values in different ways. At this point, it can be concluded that components of democracy are not only multifaceted but they are also integrated and mutually reinforcing.
Janda, K., Jerry, B., Goldman, J. & Hula, K. (2008). The Challenge of Democracy: American Government in a Global World, Brief Edition. USA: Wadsworth Publishing.
