In the United States, democracy is described as a structure of political leadership whereby all policies and resolutions are made based on the principle of majority rule. The citizens elect their political representatives in regular, free and fair elections. A principle of political fairness, freedom, and equality, where all the persons who are eligible voters enjoy their privilege to choose between political candidates, oversees the election of representatives. It is without a doubt that an elected representative in any society does not provide sufficient representation of all the preferences and opinions in the society. Therefore, Pressure groups, otherwise known as Interest groups, have to play a crucial role in the establishment of equality in the democratic civilization.
There is no skepticism that interest groups take a significant role in democratic society. In any civilization, there are various opinions and interests that modern democratic systems in political parties cannot cope with satisfactorily. This is because of the make-up of the political parties which amasses the interests of society to found a body with the proficiency to head the whole country. As a result, they are hindered from coping with some fundamental democratic matters affecting a good number of Americans. Interest groups, in such a democratic society, give voice to the interests and opinions of citizens and have an impact on the policy-making process where they allow individuals to actively work on matters in a bid to take part in decision making.
Generally, political parties in the United States have demonstrated poor and class-biased voter mobilization. To be specific, lower-class citizens vote at approximately sixty percent of the rate of upper-class Americans and considerably below the turnout of lower-classes. A probable shortcoming of this bias is that in turn, policies inaccurately reflect the general public interests and therefore the local and national governments are less democratic than they otherwise should be. A study on the determinants of government policies in the US has offered pragmatic backing for this poor performance in the mobilization of voters indicating the status of the electorate nature of the policy decisions of elected representatives.
Multi-member electoral system elections would be structurally more competitive than a two-member system. A political race between candidates in a single-member district candidate requires 50 percent plus one vote to earn a seat, whereas a three-candidate system, such as Illinois State, the conditions for winning one of three seats can be 30 percent or even less. Transitioning to a multi-party structure could practically make every political race competitive, compelling aspirants to seek votes more aggressively and motivate local citizens to vote. Moreover, the intensification of healthy political competition would not compromise voting rights. Revolutionizing the system of election management is crucial to eliminating blockades barring involvement and imparting assurance that every vote will count.
The Congress is intended to represent the citizens’ diverse interests. Elected members of Congress are supposed to provide assistance and services to their constituents. Members of Congress reflect the country’s strengths and weaknesses. Elected members of Congress represent their regional idiosyncrasies and are essentially charged with reconciling the many viewpoints on the great public policy issues of the day. Members of Congress ought to regularly visit their home districts and states so as not to lose touch with their constituents’ views. Downright snubbing one's district area would be unwise if the official anticipated being reelected.
The United States democratic system sparks a lot of debate. Some critics argue that there is no such thing as the common good as there are so many divergent interests and opinions in society. It is essential that the country should come first before any party. Change is imperative because a united nation can do more than a divided one. The flawed two-party political system is an undemocratic system because a percentage of people will always feel marginalized by the system. Thus, the United States democracy seeks welfares for a certain percentage of the people over accommodating the interests of the larger majority. Critics of this democracy system contend that the system favors only to particular financial interest groups, which have superior economic power. As a result, the system inclines to overlook the benefits of the low-class Americans in favor of middle and upper-class citizens, with an abundance of time and money to contribute.
Work cited
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