What is really good for Democracy?
Contrary to most beliefs, only 26 states (and Washington, D.C.) offer initiative and/or referendum rights for their citizens. Referendum is a state-level method of direct legislation, a vote on a single specific issue put to the public by the government, a form of direct democracy. Initiative is when voters can instruct the legislature to consider a specific bill to be voted on through gathered signatures, it allows laws or amendments to be initiated directly by the voters. Although some citizens may not be fully educated on each initiative/referendum, Initiatives and Referendums are beneficial to democracy because they force a legislature to deal with the issue at hand, act as a check on the activities of
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Direct initiative (the standard form of this process) is when a matter that meets all the states requirements will go directly on the ballot. An example of a direct initiative is California legalizing marijuana. Indirect initiative is when a matter is submitted to the legislature and they have a certain amount of time to act on it. Indirect initiatives are essentially referendums that are initiated by legislature. Both processes, direct initiative and indirect initiative require a required number of signatures. Next, the initiative is included on the ballot of the next election in the appropriate form. From 1912 to 2014, 364 initiatives have qualified for the statewide California ballot, but voters have only approved …show more content…
Initiatives help hold the government accountable to the people. Where the citizens’ initiative is in place, if the government acts in a way that conflicts with the citizens’ preferences or they decline to carry out a policy that most citizens prefer, then citizens may go around the government and directly enact the laws they wish. With the initiative process, voters can avoid Congress on issues like same sex marriage, gun control, social security and Medicare. Using referendums, voters can vote on legislation that a legislature does not want to vote on because the issue is too controversial. Congress could enact a law that only benefits members of congress, initiatives and referendums help to stop that from happening- just because congress thinks it is beneficial, does not mean it is. Legislation that is voted on that effects the general public can be approved or fought against using initiatives and
On the national civics assessment, “two-thirds of 12th graders scored below ‘proficient’…and only 9 percent could list two ways a democracy benefits from citizen participation” (O’Connor and Romer 4). The information provided clarifies just how little students know about democracy. Without education on the subject, they are unaware as to how their government contribution is beneficial and why it is needed in the first place. The students, because of their lack of understanding, therefore choose to not take part in their government and fail to carry out their duties as a citizen. The authors provide more research that shows “the better people understand our history and system of government, the more likely they are to vote and participate in the civic life” (O’Connor and Romer 8).
...g the power that voters had in both local and state politics. The initiative would let a voter suggest a law that they believed should be passed and would then be voted on at the election, the referendum said that “voter-propose public measures are voted upon”, and lastly recalls would let “voters remove an elected official from office through a ballot box”. The Seventeenth Amendment would be added to the constitution in 1913 that would grant the right to directly vote U.S. Senators.
...thirds vote of the Legislature to impose new states taxes and a vote of people before any local tax can be imposed.
Several states try to allow citizens to make decisions without elected officials. Referendums, initiatives, and sunshine laws are all ways that the states incorporate the public into lawmaking and government decisions. However, the United States is not a direct democracy because it includes elements of a republic. The government has more than five hundred thousand elected officials that answer to the public. The constitutional framers believed that the majority in a direct democracy would get carried away and make decisions that only benefit themselves. That is why the government was set up to be able to check the power of the majority. Because the government is a mixed system that combines a democracy and a republic, it is not considered a direct
...ic interest. The initiative and referendum are generally portrayed as an expansion of democracy, giving the people an opportunity to be more involved with state legislation when laws ignore the common interest of the public.
from voting, but are used by creating new laws that would prevent one’s ballot to be
Governing California is no easy task. California’s size, growth in population, and diversity are advantages and disadvantages at the same time. With Arnold new in the chair, Californian’s were looking for a new face, a new approach to things, and maybe sometimes, that is not the way to go. One problem is politics by initiative. It is interesting ...
In conclusion, voting is an opportunity to express oneself. Voting has a background that is long and drawn out. People in the colonial times went through a significant amount of laws and regulations about who could not vote, and who could. It led to Americans receiving our voting rights, still today. However, many people may not vote, it is important to know the background, the reasons for voting, and the reasons why people choose not to vote.
A memorable expression said by President Abraham Lincoln reads, “Democracy is government of the people, by the people, and for the people”. Democracy, is a derived from the Greek term "demos" which means people. It is a successful, system of government that vests power to the public or majority. Adopted by the United States in 1776, a democratic government has six basic characteristics: (i) established/elected sovereignty (where power and civic responsibility are exercised either directly by the public or their freely agreed elected representative(s)), (ii) majority rule(vs minority), (iii) (protects one’s own and reside with) human rights, (iv) regular free and fair elections to citizens (upon a certain age), (v) responsibility of
More specific arguments originate from the participatory theory of democracy and the critique of a lack of responsiveness and legitimacy of representative (party) democracy. The two sets of democratic institutions are distinguished by basic features of direct participation: (1) direct democracy focuses on specific issues, in contrast to voting on candidates and general programs for long terms of office, and (2) citizens themselves act as decision makers rather than delegating these powers. Like electoral systems, a variety of procedural forms, designs, and regulations are likely to influence processes and outcome. One must also keep in mind that direct-democratic processes cannot operate in isolation but are always linked to the structures of an overall political system that includes major representative institutions. Thus, interactions between the two types of institutions will be an important challenge for analysis. For instance, as George Tsebelis notes, referendum voters can be seen as an additional veto player. Some authors contend that direct democracy may undermine representative democracy, while others focus on the deliberative functions for a democratic public sphere and the capacity for integrating citizens in the democratic process. One can also assume that basic
... result of a direct democracy, complications like getting every citizen to vote on every single issue, something close to impossible with modern populations that grow like grass in springtime. These changes have caused democracy to become intertwined with other forms of government, and while they have caused a deviation from pure democracy, they have allowed countless nations to function efficiently while maintaining the basic pillar of democracy: that ultimate authority and power is derived from the citizens.
Democracy is important and valuable to the people of the United States. It is the form of government that rules us all. Democracy is one type of government with different variations. The idea of democracy has two meanings. The ideal and the real. The ideal is that democracy that listens to everyone and gives freedom as well as equality. For example, there is direct democracy, in which every person votes to come to an agreement. This is a type of democracy that cannot be accomplished in the United States due to the population size. Instead we have what is called a representative democracy or the real type of democracy. In this type of democracy, we the people get to choose someone to represent our values an opinions and that person reports this to the government. We have this type of democracy because perfect democracy does not exist. It would be extremely hard to accomplish or even come close to it. The reality is that the United States is one of the closest best forms of democracy, yet it’s far from perfect. The U.S. and what makes it a working democracy contains more than just representation. The government is made up of the Constitution, the rule of the majority, public opinion, elections, mass media, interest
United States. The Secretary of State's Office. "1996 Ballot Propositions. Your Future... Your Choice. Vote!" (1996): 20-24. Arizona.
What is democracy? Democracy a form of government in which the people freely elect representatives to govern them in a country, democracy guarantees free and fair elections, basic personal and political rights and independent court of law. There are two types of democracy, direct and indirect democracy. Direct democracy or pure democracy is where there is direct participate of the people; people make decisions for them instead of letting them representative make decision for them. Indirect democracy the decisions are made by the representative on behalf of the people that voted for them. All over the world people are having different views with regard to democracy and how it operates. “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried” ~ Winston Churchill, some have said democracy is the worst government form of government which I also think it’s! Due to the how it operates.
This paper will begin by highlighting aspects of citizen participation showing the advantages and disadvantages it has on the policy process and discuss how citizen participation in the policy making pro...