Is the USA still a beacon of democracy?
Are they a good example for other countries?
We all know a beacon from the seafaring! It should help people and guide them. But does the USA still guide other countries?
A country, where the president just gets 26,4 % of the votes of all the people who are justifiable to vote. A country, where the president gets less votes than his opponent in the election, but still wins. A country, where some states have more than dubious conditions for the voter.
The USA is the oldest, universal democracy, since the foundation in 1789. Often it was a good example for other countries in the past. A motivation for undemocratic countries to change something. But is it the same nowadays? I think there is still a change. But a change in the USA and not the best one.
Yes, every person who is 18 or older and who lives in the USA is allowed to vote – that’s a democracy. But there are some senseless things which cost money or require a lot of time, you have to do. For example, you have to register yourself, because there are no offices for registration. The registration take a lot of time and because of this, many people don’t want to vote. Moreover, in some states you only can vote if you have an identity card with a picture on it. But not every person has one, because it costs money. Especially poor families aren’t able to pay this. Does this mean, sometimes you have to pay to be allowed to vote? Ahhhm? This isn’t very democratic. This is unfair!
But all in all you can say it is a democracy, because everyone is allowed to vote.
But does the election represents the opinion of the people?
Because of the electoral college, in my point of view, the president doesn’t represent the opinion of the people very well! The last election is a good example to show, what I mean.
227 million people were allowed to vote. 95,2 million were non-voters -> 42%. 60,1 million vote for Clinton -> but only 59,8 million people for Trump. That’s a difference of 0,1% - but it is a difference. Furthermore you can see, that Trump represents the opinion of just ¼ of the population. In my point of view, a person represents a bigger group of people, if he or she has more than a half of the votes or the clear majority of the votes. And ¼ is not even clear to 50% and in this example it is less than his opponent receives. If the winner of an election has less votes than his/her opponent, for me it isn’t a good example for a democratic system. In addition, in my point of view, some states work undemocratic. In states like, Arizona, Florida or Nevada, people who were in prison aren’t allowed to vote. Some of them were just a few months in prison, and because of this, they aren’t allowed to vote? Is this democratic?
Also inmates aren’t allowed to vote. If you add up these people, you have 6,1 million people who aren’t allowed to vote. And that’s a huge number and another undemocratic example.
In fact, studies show, that the USA isn’t completely democratic nowadays. In the democracy index 2016 of the economist, they are not longer a “full democracy”, but a “ flawed democracy” and ranked on place 21. First place is Norway.
In conclusion I can say, that for me it isn’t the question if the USA is still a beacon of democracy, it is the question if the USA is democratic? They don’t fulfil the function of a beacon, because of their dubious election progress, the conditions to vote and the exclusion of some people. There are a lot of other countries, which are a much better example for a democratic state. Finally I want to say, that in my point of view, the USA is a democracy, but not completely democratic. That’s the difference.
Thank you.
