The Evolution of Democracy from Jefferson to Jackson Political To what extent was universal white manhood suffrage achieved? Jeffersonian Democracy – In Jeffersonian democracy, most states required white males to own property in order to vote. Jacksonian Democracy – Under Jacksonian Democracy, every state allowed white males to vote, even if they didn’t have property, except for the state of Rhode Island. Which citizens were considered eligible for office holding? Jeffersonian Democracy – Women were not eligible for office holding, for Jefferson often questioned their intelligence.
Any comment about a social, religious or minority group can only be generalised when referring to its voting habits and so the following comments can only be taken as a generalisation. Logic dictates that not all African Americans or women vote Democrat. But the trends indicate that a large proportion of each group does. Another issue which has to be addressed by both parties was the large degree of absenteeism at the voting booths in 1996 and 2000. Is the explanation for 1996 that it was a ‘forgone conclusion’ sufficient to explain why half of all registered voters did not vote?
However P.R made it difficult for a lot of parties to gain a majority of seats in the Reichstag, which made it harder for one major party to take control of the country. This P.R system made it a coalition government whereby the country is ruled by many parties together having to make joint decisions, therefore made it more difficult to compromise and lead to a weaker government resulting to further elections, making the constitution unstable. Furthermore Universal male suffrage enabled men over the age of 20 to vote in an election. This included the upper, middle and working classes, which made parties competitive. However as there were so many parties only the ones with the most convincing views and issues that effected the general population became major for example, the Communists, Socialists and Democrats, which were aimed for, change and equality.
Illinois has a population of 12 million people and 22 electoral votes. This means have one vote per every 550,000 voters. This is a very unbalanced form of voting, not capturing the popular vote at all. Durbin also points out that we use a direct popular election system for Senators, Governors, Congressmen, and mayors, but not for our President. The Founding Fathers knew during their time that people running for congress lived closer to the people voting for them, so at that time, the people voted directly for them but only for them.
|Your Score |___ of 50 | There has been a majority of differences since the elections of the 1800’s. Some examples of things that have changed are political parties and after the war of 1812 the party for the federalist was terminated. After that no political parties were present, the only “ism” that was still alive was “sectionalism” and a lot of the time that would cause fights and disputes between people. There was only a certain “group” of people that could vote during the 1800’s, the only people that could were men, but the catch was that they had to own land to vote. This voting law that only allowed men with land to vote lowered the amount of people who could vote extremely.
A party identification (PID) or long-term attachment that summarizes a person’s outlook and attitude on the merits of a political party is the most influential factor in the voting polls but not to me. Because I have seen and experienced different governments around the world, I have grown to believe in more than a party. I know I am not the only one. Each year more and more Americans are going through the process of dealingnment which means they are losing their identity with a political party. Even then, there are still a percentage of Americans that are strong partisans who feel their party affiliation is on top of everything.
Contention 3: Wealth Cannot Buy Election Victories or Political Dominance_______________________________________________________ There is a common misconception that democracy and influence are truly for sale in the United States. However, the Journal of Political Economy notes that “Campaign spending has an extremely small impact on election outcomes regardless of incumbency status. According to my estimates, an extra $100,000 in campaign spending garners less than 0.33 percent of the vote.” Thus, although Citizens United has increased the amount of money flowing into the political system, we are not seeing victories for those supported by Super PACs at the rate some critics of the decision predicted. This is also due to the fact that corporations naturally compete with each other and unions have been freed to contribute (thereby acting as a counterbalance to corporate spending). According to the Melone, “A corporate political advertisement supporting or opposing a particular position or candidate will most definitely generate an immediate response by corporations with competing
* Parliament has very little pay, and low power. * Congress has a high pay, and high power. * U.S. Congress is more concerned with their own constituencies and careers than with the interests of any organized party or program. Also, worrying about the voters they represent is more important than worrying about whether the president succeeds with his programs. This mean Congress is a decentralized institution.
One way a country can show it has a good economy is by considering the country’s GDP (PPP) per capita. Seeing as USA is the only current superpower in the world, taking their GDP (PPP) of $54,800, considerably more than certain other countries such as China ($12,900) and Russia ($24,800). However, it must be considered that GDP (PPP) per capita is not entirely accurate in measuring the strength of a country's economy as it hides the gaps in wealth in the population. Consequently, A country with a few billionaires and the rest living in poverty would probably have a pretty good average. This would not be considered a superpower due to all the people living in poverty.
The Corruption of Political Morals Hundreds of thousands of men and women have died throughout the centuries to keep America the freedom-loving country it is today. By being blessed with the basic principles of justice and liberty, Americans are granted an amazing opportunity that citizens of most other countries are not - the ability to have a say in the government. Each citizen is allotted one vote to state their opinion based on what they believe. But how do individuals make their decision as to what is best for the country? Or rather, do desires for their own success even at the expense of others trump what is best for humankind?