Democracy 2 Views of democracy Procedural Substantive 1

Democracy

2 Views of democracy Procedural Substantive • 1) Who participates? • 2) How much does a vote count for? • 3) How many votes are needed to reach a decision? • Democracy is the actual policies followed by a government not the procedure by which they were chosen

Procedural democracy in the U. S. • 1) Universal Participation. • 130. 3 million voters cast ballots in 2012, about 2. 3 million less than in 2008. Well over half (57. 4%) of the drop off was in three states – New York and New Jersey, which were impacted by Hurricane Sandy, and California, the state with the largest decline. • • An estimated 222 million Americans were eligible to vote in 2012, an increase of about nine million over 2008. Of those eligible voters, 51 million were not registered and could not have voted except in the ten states that allow voters to register or update their registration on Election Day. • As in previous elections, national voter turnout was dragged down by low turnout in the large states like California, New York, and Texas, which between them represent about a quarter of the nation’s voting eligible population. They ranked 41 st, 44 th, and 48 th respectively in turnout among the states

Universal participation? http: //www. huffingtonpost. com/2013/08/16/pennsylvaniavoter-id_n_3769410. html http: //www. miamiherald. com/2013/06/25/3469760/supre me-courts-voting-rights-act. html

• 2) Political Equality- Do all votes count equally? • A) Electoral College • B) Tax Cap • http: //www. nytimes. com/2013/02/21/nyregi on/new-york-state-teachers-union-sues-overtax-cap. html? _r=0

• 3) Majority Rule • See same objections to political equality. • If there is not a clear 50%+ solution, we go to Plurality Rule whereby the highest % wins.

Direct vs. Indirect democracy • Direct democracy aka Participatory democracy - When citizens vote directly on policies and procedures. • EX- New England Town Hall meetings, some school systems • Not practical for large groups and/or complicated issues

Indirect democracy • AKA Representative democracy- When people elect public officials to act on their behalf. • We now need to add a 4 th principle to procedural democracy; Responsiveness- in other words do elected officials follow the general contours of public opinion when making laws? • How responsive do you feel our lawmakers are?

Gun Control?

http: //usnews. nbcnews. com/_news/2013/09/ 10/20421919 -two-colorado-lawmakers-whobacked-strict-gun-control-laws-ousted-inrecall? lite

Substantive democratic theory • Focuses on policies, not procedures. • Government policies should guarantee Civil liberties ( freedom of speech, religion, expression etc…) and Civil rights (powers and privileges that government cannot arbitrarily deny to citizens such as anti-discrimination policies in housing and employment )

Substantive theory cont. • Problems arise when you discuss social rights (health care, education) and economic rights (private property, steady employment). • In the U. S. there is much less support for social welfare programs than in other Western democracies. • Should a government promote social equality to qualify as a democracy?

Institutional models of democracy • A) Majoritarian Model • Government by the people is interpreted as government by the majority of people. • This usually done by simply electing officials, however, it can be done via other means. • 1) referendum • 2) initiative • 3) recall-

• These are all done at state and local levels. • http: //www. politico. com/news/stories/1112/ 83431. html • Should the U. S. have national issues decided via initiatives?

Pluralist democracy • Government is defined as government by the people operating via interest groups • Interest group- an organized group of people that seeks to influence public policy. (AKA a Lobbying group) • Some examples are…….

2 major mechanisms in the pluralist model • 1) Interest groups • 2) decentralized structure of government that provides ready access to public officials • Dahl- “ instead of a single center of sovereign power there must be multiple centers of power, none of which or can be wholly sovereign” • Key words- divided authority, decentralization, open access

Elite theory • A small group of people actually makes all important decisions • They control key financial, industrial, government and communications institutions • Ex- Dick Cheney- Sec Def under Bush I – CEO Haliburton Energy Co. – VP under Bush II

Another Example • Robert Edward Rubin (born August 29, 1938) is an American economist and banking executive. He served as the 70 th United States Secretary of the Treasury during both the first and second Clinton administrations. Before his government service, he spent 26 years at Goldman Sachs, eventually serving as a member of the board, and co-chairman from 1990 to 1992. His most prominent post-government role was as director and senior counselor of Citigroup, where he performed ongoing advisory and representational roles for the firm. [1] From November to December 2007, he served temporarily as chairman of Citigroup[2][3] and resigned from the company on January 9, 2009. He received more than $126 million in cash and stock during his tenure at Citigroup, [4] up through and including Citigroup's bailout by the U. S. Treasury.

Pluralist vs. Elite Theory • On any given issue there can be numerous constituencies vying for a decision. • EX- National Forest policy. Big logging companies, campers, hunters and environmentalists can all support different policies. If Elite theory is always true, the logging industry should always win. This is not the case.