Existence of a Representative Democracy
The government is a key requirement towards any group of people that exist in a single locality. Human diversity is a universal phenomenon in all societies. This engrosses the imperfect nature of the human beings. Consequently, this phenomenon requires a uniform regime. It requires government. The government introduces a set of rules that apply to all the individuals in the society (Sidlow, 3). The rules and regulations define the conduct of the society. The government also oversees the equal allocation of resources in a locality. In such a situation, the individuals have varied ideologies. Therefore, there is a requirement of representatives in the government. This feature characterizes democracy.
The existence of representative democracy is a topic that is under debate. Some people believe that such a mode of leadership is non-existent while others believe in it (Sidlow, 2). Both clusters have a unique perspective of the modes of leadership that exist in the American society. The cluster that believes in the non-existence of democracy has a set of perspectives. Such individuals believe that the public elects the representatives in the regime. The election of the representatives has an ultimate objective of satisfying the needs of the society. From their perspective, the individuals believe that the representatives do not meet their ultimate objective. The representatives do not meet the ultimate objectives of satisfying the needs of their societies. This fact attributes to the complexity of the society. The society comprises of diverse individuals who have deviant stipulations and perspectives (Sidlow, 3). From a realistic dimension, the representatives cannot satisfy the general group of the voters. In this perspective, meeting the needs of the society is a requirement in democracy. All the democratic leaders have a role to satisfy the needs of the society they are serving. In reality, this is an ideal proposition. Therefore, representative democracy does not exist.
There are diverse structures of government. From a broad perspective, a government is either autocratic or democratic (Sidlow, 7). The autocratic government entails the rule by a single individual. In this case, the authority of the entire regime is under a single individual. This was a very dominant mode of leadership in the ancient societies. Many communities were under the authority of a single individual. The leaders reinforced their ultimate decisions to their subjects. This did not necessarily involve the consideration of the subjects. Leaders would make decisions with minimal consideration and consultation of the public. In this form of leadership, the authority was an inherited virtue. This was the most common form of succession of power. Leaders would pass their authority to their off springs. In this case, the leadership model did not dwell on realistic and rational principles. The leaders and the subjects would dwell much on mythologies of the community. Apart from the inheritance of power, individuals would obtain authority through force. They would maneuver their ways to the leadership positions. Such leaders used their wits and their social abilities to climb to authority. The monarchy and dictatorship are the key forms of autocratic leadership. In the monarchy, the leader obtained his or her authority through inheritance (Sidlow, 7). This individual had the highest rank of authority in the society. With time, monarchy took a depriving trend due to civilization. An alternative form of autocratic leadership was dictatorship. This form of leadership involved single individual in authority. It did not necessarily symbolize inheritance of power. In most cases, dictators would obtain power through force. They would overthrow existent dictators from power. In this case, the leader controls all the aspects of the society. The leader is in charge of social issues, economics, and all the aspects that associated with the society.
Autocratic leadership was entirely different from democratic leadership. Democratic leadership is the most common form of leadership in the American society (Sidlow, 7). In this form of leadership, the political authority lays in the society. The members of the society have the authority to recommend or reject political principles. The subjects of the leadership have the final decision about the decisions of the regime. Government officials implement principles after the consent of the people. Democracy demands much participation from the citizens. Members of the society make an immense involvement in the implementations of the regime. In the recent society, democracy incorporates bureaucracy. This entails the use of specific gradual authorities towards the implementation of policies. Government officials have specialized roles in this form of democracy. Additionally, the regime incorporates a constitution. This involves a set of rules and regulations that guide the conduct of the citizens. The society behaves according to the stipulations of the constitution. It is the obligation of the society to pass the implementation of the constitution. Evidently, the subjects of the regime have an immense priority in the government structure. Recent governments involved bureaucracy due to the complexity of direct democracy. Direct democracy is only applicable to small communities. Large societies require a more sophisticated form of democracy. In small communities, the people can meet in a single place with the authorities to make judgments (Sidlow, 7). Definitely, this is not practical in large societies like America.
Representative democracy is a form of leadership that exists in broad societies such as America (Sidlow, 8). The Americans started to be democrats since ancient times. This started with the founders of the nation. The founders of the American society placed much priority to the citizens. They advocated for their consultation before the implementation of policies. Despite of their immense priority to the citizens, the founders of the American society did not advocate for direct democracy. According to them, direct democracy would deprive to the rule of mobs. The meetings of the citizens would place minorities in immense disadvantage. The majority would definitely dominate the decision making process of the regime. In this case, the decisions would not be out of careful thought. The policies would manifest much irrationality as the majority fight to dominate according to their interests. In this case, the founders of the nation advocated for the existence of representatives. Each assembly would have a representative that would express the interests of a single social cluster (Sidlow, 8). Consequently, this would create a more congruent and rational implementation of policies. This move would also propagate a peaceful co-existence amongst the individuals in the society. The calm co-existence would also propagate a more sound and equivalent consideration of the individuals in the society.
Representative democracy involves the existence of small social clusters. The will of the majority reflects in these minute social clusters. The small social groups emerge from an election by the public (Sidlow, 8). The representatives present the interests of their localities to the higher authorities of the regime. The representatives are accountable of the conduct of their people. This implicates that the representatives oversee the harmonious conduct of their people. In this form of democracy, the people have the right to vote the representatives out of their positions. Evidently, the posts of the representatives are entirely under the determination of the people. The republic is a terminology that defines the representatives and the people. The republic does not have a specific king or queen. This cumulative and equivalent legal entity ensures the congruent flow of political strategies. The republic has a single qualification in the administration of the nation. This legal entity lacks a specific post of authority (Sidlow, 8). In this case, the people are the sovereign entities. Evidently, the people possess much power in the activities of the entire regime.
In some occasions, the republic might have a monarch. This is a leader of the entire republic. This is a common phenomenon in the British regime. The leader is the head of the state. Despite of his title, this person does not have actual power over the people (Sidlow, 8). The people also have the right to vote him out of the post. There are two broad types of democratic representatives. These entail the presidential and the parliamentary democratic representation. In presidential democracy, the construction and implementation of the law are independent entities. Despite of this fact, they are equal in the entire regime setup. In parliamentary democracy, construction and implementation of the law overlap in an immense degree (Sidlow, 8). The parliament enacts the laws and implements them. This is a compound role of the parliament democracy. According to these facts, representative democracy is an existent phenomenon in America. The traits of representative democracy manifest vividly in the American regime.
Work cited
Sidlow, Edward. Govt. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011.