Is the US a democracy?

Thèmes abordés

Is the US a democracy, racial segregation, United States, 15th Amendment, civic death, electoral identity, SUPER PAC Super Political Action Committee, American Constitution

Résumé du document

The United States is considered as the most developed democratic model. It's born of a democratic will. They have the mission to spread this democratic model to the whole world. It is in the name of this democracy that the United States penetrates within certain states to impose the democratic values. In Iraq, for example, in 2003, the United States believed it was possible to impose 'democracy' from outside by force.

Extraits

[...] They were designed to keep poor blacks out of the electorate. With the tightening of penal policies, the number of citizens who have lost the right to vote has increased five-fold in forty years. And, considering that nine of ten Blacks vote for the Democratic Party, it is a determining factor in the outcome of the presidential and legislative elections. II - Electoral identity, an instrument of exclusion Usually states do not require any special document from voters. But more and more states are voting texts specifying the conditions for an electoral identity For example, Texas passed a law in 2011 asking voters to show photo ID. [...]

[...] So: Is the United States a democracy? The question may seem provocative, but it is worth asking. I will try to highlight the reasons why the US is not really a democracy and I will study 4 aspects: I - An exclusion of a part of the population The 15th Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees that "citizens' right to vote can not be refused or limited because of race, color or an earlier condition of servitude", BUT states have the right to legislate to restrict or even eliminate the right to vote "because of criminal charges or mental incapacity". [...]

[...] Now, is this democracy really respected when the President himself, Donald Trump, is baffling this freedom? Indeed, Trump has insulted American footballers who knelt during the national anthem in protests against police violence against minorities. Is it normal while we know that in the United States it is allowed to burn the American flag in the name of freedom of expression? And is it normal for the President to insult and blame a part of his population for what they are protesting for? [...]

[...] However, when we know that the reluctance of the founding fathers towards democracy is at the origin of the American system and that we see the application of the system tends to exclude a part of the population, we can question this form of democracy. Tocqueville was afraid of a tyranny of the majority, but today we see that it is a minority that runs the country. The question is: is the US a democracy or a plutocracy where wealth is the main basis of political power? [...]

[...] Among them, the port of arms, but not the student card. And it is interesting if we consider that the holders of the first vote rather Republican, while the holders of the second widely vote Democrat. Fortunately, Texas is one of sixteen states forced by the Voting Rights Acts of 1965 to obtain the consent of the Federal Department of Justice before any change in its electoral legislation. It was then a question of guaranteeing the implementation of the fifeteen Amendment. [...]