U.S. Democratic Government

Paper Summary:

This paper argues that, if the U.S. government were to adopt policies designed to universally guarantee housing, food, clothing and medical care to its citizens, rather than enhance democracy, it would undermine certain of the fundamental principles of democracy and individual rights.

From the Paper:

"What does the concept of democracy specifically denote, when applied to the American system of government? Although often simplistically referred to as "majority rule," since the Declaration of Independence (1776) it has been generally accepted that, "the nature of American democracy has been the balancing of a government that protects and promotes the liberty of each individual," ( Roper, qtd. in Maidment 9) which, in effect, declares that democratic government does not exist to "rule" its people, but to assist in the securing and protection of their "unalienable rights." This American ideal of liberal democracy defines that all individuals, and groups, should have the ability to exert control over their own political, economic and social situations, within a society that is based on the ideals of competition, pluralism and meritocracy. This led classical liberalism of the nineteenth century, and a brief revival in the 1980's by the "New Right" administration of Ronald Regan, to interpret this definition as limiting the state's duties to that of protecting citizens' rights through defense and law and order policies, with all other responsibilities and decisions being left to the individual. Although, the state plays a far more extensive role in the liberal democracy of modern America, one significant concept of the original concept remains true, that the individual is the basic unit of politics."

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