Is The Unites States Political System A Legitimate Democracy?

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Term Paper Title	Is The Unites States Political System A Legitimate Democracy?
# of Words	1275
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	5.1

Is The Unites States Political System A Legitimate Democracy?

        In any system which claims to be democratic, a question of its
legitimacy remains.  A truly democratic political system has certain
characteristics which prove its legitimacy with their existence.  One
essential characteristic of a legitimate democracy is that it allows
people to freely make choices without government intervention.  Another
necessary characteristic which legitimates government is that every vote
must count equally:  one vote for every person.  For this equality to
occur, all people must be subject to the same laws, have equal civil
rights, and be allowed to freely express their ideas.  Minority rights
are also crucial in a legitimate democracy.  No matter how unpopular
their views, all people should enjoy the freedoms of speech, press and
assembly.  Public policy should be made publicly, not secretly, and
regularly scheduled elections should be held.  Since "legitimacy" may be
defined as "the feeling or opinion the people have that government is
based upon morally defensible principles and that they should therefore
obey it," then there must necessarily be a connection between what the
people want and what the government is doing if legitimacy is to occur.
        The U.S. government may be considered legitimate in some aspects, and
illegitimate in others.  Because voting is class-biased, it may not be
classified as a completely legitimate process.  Although in theory the
American system calls for one vote per person, the low rate of turnout
results in the upper and middle classes ultimately choosing candidates
for the entire nation.  Class is determined by income and education, and
differing levels of these two factors can help explain why class bias
occurs.  For example, because educated people tend to understand
politics more, they are more likely to vote.  People with high income
and education also have more resources, and poor people tend to have low
political efficacy (feelings of low self-worth). Turnout, therefore, is
low and, since the early 1960s, has been declining overall.
        The "winner-take-all" system in elections may be criticized for being
undemocratic because the proportion of people agreeing with a particular
candidate on a certain issue may not be adequately represented under
this system.  For example, "a candidate who gets 40 percent of the vote,
as long as he gets more votes than any other candidate, can be
elected—even though sixty percent ...

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