Understanding Representative Democracy in the United States

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Although there are many different forms of democracy, in a true democracy the power is in the hands of the people. In a representative democracy the nations “restrict popular decision making to electing or appointing officials who make public policy” (Text, 4). According to this definition, democracy is a form of government in which power and responsibility reside with those who have been appointed to make decisions for the good of the whole.
The United States of America is said to be run through the process of representative democracy. This system allows citizens of the United States to elect representatives who make rules for the rest of the people. These officials are held accountable “through periodic elections and the rule of law” (Text, 4). The ideas of majority rule and minority rights give power to the rules made by the officials but also protect the ideas of the minority. This is an important element in democracy as it gives a voice to the minority party.
In the United States, we elect the members of each of the three branches of government differently. For example, the …show more content…

Although this is not a power the people have directly, if those who they elected to represent them in the Electoral College do not elect a President or Vice President, the members of the House and Senate, who are directly elected by the people, can make the decision. This is democratic in a way that the people are directly electing those who get to make the secondary decision instead of the decision going to the Judicial Branch whose members are nominated by the President. So, although it is not truly democratic in that the people get to decide, it is somewhat democratic in that the President and Vice President do not get decided by those who were potentially just nominated for their position by the same person who is running for

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