What+is+Democracy?

>> Democracy, according to Aristotle, is, simply, the “rule of the many.” Over time, the participatory democracy that worked so well, in Greece, has evolved into a representative democracy. The Framers of the Constitution quickened the evolution of democracy by refusing to acknowledge direct democracy simply because they feared that the power would be abused and turn into a tyranny. Because of this mindset, when Americans think of democracy, they usually think of representative democracy because it is the most familiar. >> Early civilizations, such as ancient Greece, show us the evolution of democracy. Direct democracy was successful because there were small populations and the demographic of people who could vote was even smaller (property-owning males). However, representative democracy has become more practical and less risky as opposed to a direct democracy. A representative democracy gives people the power to choose who they believe are most suitable to make decisions for their country. On a larger scale, this is more efficient and effective than a direct democracy because direct voting would be slow and have outside influences. Every democracy will have its faults, and the people need to realize that no system of government will be perfect. >> That being said, there are four main schools of thought on how our democracy should be classified. Over the years, democracy has evolved to fit different societies. The Marxist view of government sees the government as a reflection of economic sources. It states that there are two classes of power: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Whichever class dominates the economy, dominates the government. The power elite view is similar; the American democracy is controlled by a few top leaders. The third theory, or bureaucratic view, says the power is in the hands of the representatives' officials. The pluralist view states that power is so wide-spread, that not one group has all of the power, and no group dominates. >> Based on these thoughts, I wondered, "If the Framers of the Constitution knew about these schools of thought, then would they have changed the way our nation was founded?" I think that for the Marxist view, while there is a correlation between a strong economy and a prominent nation, the economy does not affect every decision a government makes, simply because there are so many other interests a government must satisfy. The problem with the bureaucratic view is that the people that are chosen to represent the people are not the ones actually representing us. The pluralist view, in my opinion, is the most interesting simply because it is similar to our government now. The power is spread between the three branches of government, and no group inflicts too much of their views. >> I don’t think that the Constitution would have changed, drastically, had they known these theories mainly because the colonists were worried about another tyrannical ruler. That would have canceled out the Marxist and power of elite view. The bureaucratic view wouldn’t add to the greatness of the country, nor the success of the American government within the three branches, considering no branch has too much power. >> Question 1- Name the pros and cons between a direct democracy and a representative democracy. >> Question 2- How would our lives be different today if our government functioned on bureaucratic view?