Presidential Term Limits A presidential term limit is a legal restriction on how many terms an elected president may serve in office. These limits vary upon different states. Most governments have enforced these restrictions due to the fear that one individual will hold too much power, which in theory is undemocratic. However, because the presidential elections are still existent, the people of a state have the power to either change leadership or keep the incumbent in power. That’s the great thing about democracy; the people are allowed to choose any leader they feel is best through election.
According to the Missouri Election Board in Jackson County, “..We end up with two large, pragmatic political parties which tend to the center of public opinion rather than dozens of smaller political parties catering to divergent and sometimes extremist views.” In the direct popular vote, many presidents representing minor, regional parties will run, causing problems such as the disruption from an electoral majority. They will represent regional, localized ideas and have small, decentralized platforms. Under the direct popular vote, it allows presidential candidates with localized ideas take office and neglect the need for national appeal. Anybody with a large base of support would be able to win. The overwhelming majority could be from the presidential
A question put forward by the government to be decided by the public with either a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ verdict cannot be tampered with or imply any confusion to the people/public deciding on the question. For instance, there was a referendum held in the North East in 2004 proposing setting up more assemblies in the region. The majority vote was ‘no’, winning by over three quarters of the population that participated - because the winning vote was from the majority, it represented a true manifestation of the peoples needs. A disadvantage of using referendums is a reverse argument of the first advantage. Some issues put forward by the government may be too complicated for the people to understand, which means they may have difficulty deciding on their opinion due to lack of knowledge.
‘Referenda and other forms of direct democracy, represent a more democratic form of participation than the opportunity to vote in elections’ Discuss. 25 mark past paper question Referenda require the electorate to answer a specific ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question and are held on specific issues. They can only be initiated by the government and are a form of direct democracy in an overall representative democracy. Other forms of direct democracy are; initiatives, recall elections and e-petitions. Initiatives are a form of direct democracy which allows referenda to be initiated by the citizens of a state (through a petition of registered voters where in California e.g.
The privileged and well organized wealthy upper class of this country dominate the polls, the majority of the U.S. is not represented in election, further slowing the progress of political reform. Voting is the most obvious way for the average American citizen to exercise their rights, though only one-third of eligible voters take part in mid-term congressional elections and there was only a 57.6 percent voter turnout in this last presidential election. Public officials can only respond to the information they are given, which is more often than not from the most advantaged Americans. Those who have higher incomes and have received the highest levels of formal education are more likely to be politically active, making their needs and values taken into account by government officials first and foremost. The influence of the minority proves to in turn promote the government unresponsive to the needs of the vast majority of the population, prompting middle and lower class Americans to believe that their vote does not matter and cannot make a difference.
To this I would say that the parties may have centralised slightly, but their core values still exist, which is what most people are interested in. For example the conservative party is attempting to decrease benefits, whereas the labour party wants to keep them. Another argument for political parties enhancing democracy is that parties are pluralist. This means they allow party members to influence decisions within the party, including who will be the leader. This pluralism is shown well in the party conference that is held once a year.
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. This was because word didn’t travel as fast back then and information was not as accessible. But in 1913, the seventeenth amendment let the people vote for senators. We now directly vote for senators and congressmen, but not our president. Durbin thinks this is an age-old process and should be changed.
Ratifying the Constitution. Originally the Constitution was only ratified by eleven of the thirteen states. At first it was only to be ratified by nine of the thirteen, but some states realized that the Constitution would benefit them, and decided to go vote as well. The Constitution was created to fulfill the interests of the United States. Some political issues that arose from the ratification of the Constitution were that it gave the central government way too much power.
. the role of government is to allow people the freedom to grow into responsible citizens and to exercise their inalienable rights” (2010, para 39). Elected officials work with others to find the best solutions and policies to benefit the whole in spite of their immediate needs or beliefs. We have also seen how the public’s perception of elected officials can be harmed by breaches in morality but, in the end, are forgiven in exchange for successes in other areas of performance. President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial did not deter his approval ratings as he maintained an approval rate higher than 60 percent.
A political party is “a group of political activists who organize to win elections, operate the government, and determine public policy.” (Schmidt 244) Our nation has operated on a system of two major political parties since around 1800. The names and core values of those parties have changed several times over the years. The two major parties today, the Republicans and the Democrats, are the parties that stand a reasonable chance at winning any given elections. The Republican party is known to be conservative in both economic and moral issues. This party would prefer to limit social services and emphasize one's ability to be responsible for their own finances.