In the United States, people always talk about freedom and equality. Especially they want elections could be more democratic. In American Democracy in Peril, Hudson’s main argument regarding chapter five “Election Without the People’s Voice,” is if elections want to be democratic, they must meet three essential criteria, which are to provide equal representation of all citizens, to be mechanisms for deliberation about public policy issues, and to control what government does. Unfortunately, those points that Hudson mentions are what American elections do not have. American elections do not provide equal representation to everyone in the country. What do I mean by that? In America, only people who are American citizens are able to vote, …show more content…
This is a biggest question that I always want to ask people. Since the 1960s, the US Supreme Court has established a standard for equal representation in a democracy, which is “one person, one vote.” As a Chinese immigrant and had been living in a communism country for 15 years. To be honest, I do not understand how one vote is representing people’s voice in election and how one vote is representing democracy. Can one vote affect the final result in election? I do not know and I always want to find out an answer. In China, the president is not selected by Chinese citizen. He is selected by National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China. In other word, no matter who is going to be the president, Chinese citizen do not be able to change the result. And this election is not fair enough because people in the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China can decide who the next president is before voting. So voting is just a show. The supreme leader of North Korea is also not elected by people. Kim Jong-un was born to be the supreme leader because his great-grandfather was the first leader who leaded North Korea became independent. North Korea is just same as a family business. People need to follow what the supreme leader says without judgement. Therefore, we might never see the significant of voting in those two countries because they do not need people to vote. However, America is more different than China
The Electoral College has been around for many years and has proven to be a useful tool in voting for a president. However, as useful as it is, we must ask if it is still the most optimal option when voting for president now that we have electronic communication and can spread information like wildfire. The Electoral College is flawed and should be changed.
With compulsory voting many countries become successful. Germany,Peru, Australia and many more countries have been required to vote since the late 1800’s to the late 1900’s (Doc A). In Brazil those who don 't vote have to pay a fine, causing many to not miss their voting slot time
Introduction An electoral system or voting system is a mechanism by voters to make a choice between the options put forward before them. This part of rules is the most controversy about electoral systems for converting votes into seats. According to Hague and Harrop (2001), an election is a competition for office based on a formal expression of preferences by a population. These opinions are then combined into a collective decision about which candidates have won. As Abraham Lincoln said “Election belong to the people.
The article Hillary’s Popular Vote Holdouts on Collision Course with History was very interesting, in my opinion. In the beginning, the author spoke about how the popular vote has basically no meaning behind it, the candidate can win the popular vote and still be far from winning the election due to the votes in the electoral college. I do not believe that this is how elections should be run. Candidates should win based on the entire population that voted and the government that they want to live under, not a few government officials. Elections have now turned into a competition where the candidates are not running to please the people anymore, but please the government.
Elections in China are based on a hierarchical electoral system, meaning the leader is directly elected from a group of representatives, who are elected by the voters of the locals in that area; much similar like how Australians can vote in electorate. The difference is that the Chinese government is a single party state, creating a single centralized focus of power within the country. This power is granted to the Paramount Leader, who is the highest leader of the party and the state. Due to so much power concentrated in a small group of people, there are often reports of corrupt high officials from within the party. The Transparency International had ranked Australia in the top 10 countries with low levels of corruption and China 80th
Williams suggests that the founders thought that the Electoral College was a sensible plan, but things don’t always work out how they should (28). It is a relic of America’s predemocratic past when leaders were scared of having too much power over the people (Klinker, McClellan 1). Congressional Digest suggests that we are stuck in a time warp (31). We still rely on a horse-and-buggy election system in the age of the internet (Congressional Digest 31). Congressional Digest points out the fact that voters today know more about the candidates than they did 200 years ago (19).
Every citizen has the right to vote, but not everyone does these days. It’s important that all people vote in the country and compulsory voting will assure that, because voting is not just a right, it’s a responsibility like Jury duty. Throughout the history voting laws had changed from time to time and from country to country and till now 30 countries around the world had used compulsory voting and got effective results and their countries developed due to good elections that were built in people’s opinion. Voting is considered like paying taxes nowadays, even though it is a responsibility and a duty for them to do towards their country, some people support it and others don’t. The advocates of the compulsory voting argue that
The United States currently faces a severe problem with one of their governmental processes. In the democratic system of the United States, politicians are elected by voting from the citizens, in most cases. The problem the United States is facing is that people are no longer voting in elections for officials. This problem is discussed in the article, “In praise of low voter turnout”, written by Charles Krauthammer. The main idea behind this article is that voters are no longer interested in politics, as they were in previous generations.
America is regarded highly in the world, due to its economic, political, as well as social development. As countries mature politically, voter turnout is expected to increase. This is the case for most industrialized nations who experience an average voter turnout above 70%. However, it is troubling to see that America still lags below 60% in voter turnout. Viewed as one of the healthiest democracies in the world, the United States is always referred to as an example that other countries should follow.
Why citizens don’t vote? The united states is a democracy country. Every four years citizens have to vote to elect a new president. This is a free country where citizens are not obligated to vote.
We need votes from people that understand everything about the election. There is no contest in voting ranks with other countries. I feel there is no trust in letting 16 year olds vote when they have no interest or knowledge to make a smart
Fourthly, the frequency and number of elections in the US has been indicated to be twice as much compared to many western countries. With the various separate elections in multiple levels, voters may choose to skip some of them and participate in others (McDonald, 2011). Finally, the development of democracy and level of civic education have affected the number of people who cast votes (Ezrow & Xezonakis, 2014). It is prudent to postulate that some individuals lack the feeling that their individual votes can change outcomes in the elections and they therefore do not vote. The recommendations to increase the voter turn-out, the registration process should be streamlined.
Direct democracy by using the instruments initiative or referendums; pave the way for citizens to make their own decisions that make better congruence between citizens and policies. Buttler and Ranney argued that the only way to achieve the ideal point that political decisions be made in full accordance with the wishes of the people is to ensure that those wishes are expressed directly, not mediated and interpreted (1994, p-12). Here direct democracy is such an instrument where people can interpret their own decisions by voting directly to any issues without relying on the political representatives. In Switzerland, for example certain laws or international treaties issued or newly formulated by government, citizens can call for a referendum.
Voting represents the collective choice, during the voting process, individuals' preferences are taken together, and eventually they aggregate their diverse opinion into a social choice. Although there are many alternative voting systems, they cannot always deliver in all situations. The reason is stated by Arrow, and it shows that it is impossible to find a perfect system. Therefore, it is important to weigh up the strength and weakness, then choose appropriate method among various alternative
Many people believe that the election plays the most important role in democracy. Because a free and fair election holds the government responsible and forces it to behave on voter's interest. However, some scholars find evidence that election itself is not enough to hold politicians responsible if the institutions are not shaping incentives in a correct way. In other words, the role of the election on democracy, whether it helps to serve the interest of the public or specific groups, depends on other political institutions. I