Why America is No Longer a Democratic Republic

Why America is No Longer a Democratic Republic

Based on an editorial by David Model, posted at OpEdNews

Cited here are quotations from David Model, a college professor, author, and public speaker.. They are excerpts from his recent editorial titled Media Circus Obsession: Obfuscating the Real Deficiencies of U.S. Democracy, In addition to the statements below, Mr. Model presents what he sees as thirteen defects in our government that keep America from being a democracy.Aside from his list of thirteen defects, these are the comments I see as being of greatest interest to Americans who dread the erosion of democracy in America.

“When commenting on the impact of elections on democratic ideals, it is necessary to look beneath the symptoms and identify the real problems.”

“Barnum and Bailey would turn green with envy at the circus masquerading as an electoral campaign currently in the United States.”

“Electioneering spectacles are both artificial and superficial but are really just a symptom of the underlying infringements of democratic ideals.”

”United States, Britain and Canada are the only three democracies that have not implemented some variation of proportional representation but have clung to the First-Past-The-Post system, a majoritarian system, in which only a plurality is needed in each voting district to determine the outcome.”

.”.. it (is) virtually impossible for smaller parties to gain any ground in the elected chambers of government. ”

.”..the Electoral College ... enhances the possibility of the winner having fewer popular votes than the loser.”

”American election campaigns are incapable of informing the public about the real stances of candidates on all the issues and revealing the true character and integrity of the candidates.”

”In many European countries paid advertising has been banned due to the overriding manipulative nature of a thirty second ad designed by public relations and advertising experts who are only interested in selling a product rather than informing the public.”

”Many democracies have also banned donations by any groups such as corporations and unions …”

“... the ideal method for funding elections would be based on a fair formula by which the government would either provide all the money or a balanced combination of government funding and individual donations with strict limits.”

“In the U.S., there is a two party system in which both parties are beholden to corporate donors …”

“In 2011, a total of $3.3 billion was spent on lobbying by 12,633 lobbyists translating into $6,168,000 spent on each member of the House and Senate on average and 23.6 lobbyists per each member of both Houses.”

In 2012, many pundits are predicting a total expenditure of $5 billion for all campaigns, the major source of which are wealthy benefactors or corporations.

“Lobbying virtually destroys political equality in the United States thereby undermining the principle of "by the people, for the people" and "dedicated to the principle that all men are created equal.”

“It is impossible to govern with only the public interest in mind when candidates are beholden to the people who funded their victory.”

“As for ordinary citizens, they may be able to meet with their member of Congress or Senate but the extent of their influence is often minimal.”

“The bailout during the financial crises ignored those who suffered the most, namely those who lost their jobs, the poor and those who lost their homes.”

“Leadership in Congress has been accorded too much power which can be used to serve ideological ends rather than the public interest.”

“In the United States, Supreme Court appointments are tainted by ideological considerations.   The Citizens United and the Florida Recount cases demonstrate the role of ideology in the Court's judgments.”

.”.. the criminalization of dissent and militarization of the police have resulted in a multiplicity of violations of civil and legal rights not to mention the First Amendment.”

“Corporate ownership and advertising and the symbiotic relation between big corporations and the government have reduced the media to stenographers of power.”

I hope the items quoted here will prompt you to read Mr. Model's entire editorial on the subject. And, of course, you will have to read his full statement to review the thirteen defects he sees in our government today.

Congress Ignores the Will of the People

Who Do These People Think They Are? In short, they think they are our rulers and we are their servants, instead of it being the other way around. We elect them to serve their country and its people. Instead, they represent their own best interests and those of the wealthiest one percent. The fact is that most of them care much less about the country's welfare and much more about their own welfare and that of the richest among us.

Do We Have the Right People in Congress? Absolutely not! Members of Congress are the select few (535, to be exact) chosen from our entire population of 307 million who have been elected to represent the best interests of the entire country. Each House member represents an average of more than 700,000 citizens, and each Senator represents an average of more than 3 million citizens. That's a pretty heavy burden to bear, so it stands to reason that these representatives should be selected from among the cream of the crop of the political elite when it comes to intelligence, creativity, leadership, and the ability to accomplish meaningful legislation on behalf of their. Based upon the performance and achievements of the both the 112th and the 113th Congress (so far), we and they have failed miserably.

Who Are Their Constituencies? As stated elsewhere in this blog, Congress members have multiple constituencies, interests, and priorities. Often, these conflict with one another. That is when their priorities come into play. Here is my summation of the priorities of typical politicians at the state and federal levels.

• Once in office, their first loyalty is to themselves and doing anything they can to ensure that they get reelected. One of the greatest fears of any Congress member is to get voted out of office.
• Next is their allegiance to their political parties to ensure that enough of their members get elected to push their political agendas through their legislation. This will also help gain party support when the officeholder seeks reelection.
• Third are their financial backers – the corporations and the super-rich who contribute heavily to Congressional campaigns, and who run ads supporting their anointed candidates while excoriating their opponents. This includes lobbyists, PACs, Super PACs, 527 Groups and other special interest groups. The ;politicians have to give something back to these entities in order to secure their financial support for reelection. Money talks, and politicians have perfect hearing – especially whenever the words “contribution”, “donation,” or “check” are mentioned.
• Fourth come the people who voted for them. In public, most Congress members say these people are their constituents, but you can see just how high they come on their priority list. During election years, you will see them pandering to those whose votes they need to get reelected. In other years, they will do little for their benefit. However, when they do something for them, they will trumpet it from the heavens as though they are the second coming of the Messiah.
• And dead last come the rest of the people in the country whose best interests they are also supposed to represent. This group represents the overwhelming majority of us. This is supposed to include voters and non-voters alike, whether children or adults, and whether they are eligible to vote or not.. However, most legislators tend to consider their state or district constituencies to be only those who voted for them prior elections.

Why Do They Ignore the Will of the American People? The simple reason for this is “because they can.” They know that they can thwart the will of the American people and still get reelected. They can do this for the following reasons:

1. There is a built-in bias toward incumbents. Poll results released in October, 2011, showed that Congress had an approval rating of only 9%. However, another poll released in December, 2011, showed that:, although 76% of the people feel that most members of Congress don't deserve to be re-elected As a result, in 90% of the races, the incumbent gets reelected.
2. Incumbents are able to raise more money than new office seekers. And it is well known that in more than 90% of the elections, the candidate who raises the most campaign funds wins the election.
3. Electoral districts in most states are determined by politicians. As a result, the party in power generally secures a redistricting plan that is designed to keep party incumbents in office. Gerrymandering may be a dirty word to voters, but it is a Godsend to incumbent politicians because candidates from opposing parties are generally helpless in opposing this process.

This is by no means an all-inclusive list of why it is so hard to unseat incumbents. With the deck stacked so heavily in their favor, it is little wonder that politicians turn a deaf ear to the people of this country.

What is the Effect of Incumbent Bias? When the same people get elected to Congress again and again, we get the same old ideas, the same old practices, and the same old cronyism . In essence, we have a stagnant Congress, but one that has a stranglehold on our country . These politicians don't care much about the will of the people, and they don't care at all about public opinion, whether expressed in letters, e-mails, tweets, or polls, because they have rigged things in favor of their election, term after term after term. This is certainly not to the advantage of our country.

People First. The people must come first, not last, and those who do not see that, agree with that, and legislate to that end do not represent the people and deserve to be voted out of office. That includes virtually every member of Congress, and it is almost impossible to determine the few who are the good apples in a basket of rotten ones. So, we might have to sacrifice a few of the the good ones for the sake of our country, its citizens, and our democracy.

Use Your Clout and Vote Them Out. It is time for us to muster our collective elective strength and vote as many incumbents out of office as we possibly can. We need to send a very strong but clear message to the remaining representatives that we are “mad as hell and we aren't going to take it any more.” At the same time, however, we don't want to vote in party politicians who are going to fall right in line with their cohorts and work for the same priorities as their predecessor. We don't just need new blood in Congress. We need a new source of that blood, and it preferably won't come from either the radical right or the extreme left. We need progressive populists who know the Constitution and what it stands for, and who will to restore to this country once again a government of the people, by the people, for the people.

Democracy: From Definition to the Constitution

First let's examine two types of democracy and see how the founding father chose the type they did..

Pure Democracy

A pure democracy is one in which the power to govern lies directly in the hands of the people. Hence, it is sometimes also referred to direct democracy. All citizens are allowed to participate on an equal basis with fellow citizens in establishing policies, regulations and laws, and their enforcement. This form of democracy can work well for organizations or small towns, but it becomes unwieldy and virtually impossible at a national level. Attempts at pure democracy in a few colonies failed, which helped lead our country toward a different form of government.

Democratic Republic

To overcome the unwieldiness of a pure democracy, the drafters of our Constitution turned to a representative form of government. Instead of direct participation of the people in day-to-day governance, they set up a system that provided for elected representatives to enact executive and legislative policies and laws on behalf of its citizens in accordance with the common good and the welfare of our country. Therefore, our country was founded not as a pure democracy but as a democratic republic.

The Articles of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation were this country's first attempt to draft a constitution, uniting thirteen states under a weak federal government whose primary responsibilities were overseeing the revolution against England, conducting diplomatic discussions and negotiations with Europe, and dealing with territorial matters. There was no president, no cabinet, and no federal departments of any significance. It had no power to levy taxes (which was understandable considering the issues at that time), and was totally at the mercy of the states to make voluntary contributions for its support. This confederation did not establish a new country. Rather, it established only a loosely knit association of thirteen separate, diverse, and independent states. While this confederation was relatively successful in the three areas outlined above, it was totally ineffective in dealing with other urgent matters that required a stronger central government to be effective in other critical areas.

The U.S. Constitution

The United States Constitution was written in 1787 and took effect upon ratification of nine states in 1789. In framing a new constitution, its drafters had to walk a very tight line between national rights and states' rights. Many concessions had to be made on both sides to develop a document that would be acceptable to states with widely varying principles and practices. As a result our Constitution as drafted was considered by many to have been imperfect, even for the times, and had many defects which needed to be corrected after ratification. 

Where Do We Go From Here? 


Our Constitution has served us fairly well for more than 200 years.  It has endured thousands of challenges to our democratic republic.  However, it was not written to address every possible event or development that could arise in the indefinite future.  There is no way our founding fathers could ever, in their wildest dreams, have conceived that one day corporations would be recognized as persons, entitled to the same rights of free speech as private citizens, and that money would be considered free speech.  They could never have perceived of our government and our political system essentially being bought by big money interests. Most of all, they could never have envisioned that this country would one day (today) have established an aristocracy that rivals the very one they sought and fought with their life's blood to escape.  It is small wonder that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg recently made the comment,  "I would not look to the U.S. Constitution, if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012.,".

Our Constitution could not anticipate the challenges of the distant future, and our government has failed to guard our country from adapting it to changing times..  The bottom line is that our beloved Constitution  is in critical condition and needs to be revised.  The only real question that remains now is whether or not we are up to that challenge.


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