AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

1. Democracy vs Authoritarianism?

Democracy is a political regime form based on the rule of the many, in contrast to

the rule of the few (e.g. oligarchy or aristocracy). 1 However, the concept of democracy,

a trend in today’s political world has just come into scene during the 20 th century. The

norm prior the trend of democracy is monarchy and government of the few. Democracy

continued to spread increasingly worldwide. In his 1976 book, Capitalism, Socialism

and Democracy, Joseph Schumpeter, one of the most prominent pioneers in modern

democratic thinking, explicitly rejected the “classical doctrine” of direct democracy and

advocated a “leadership democracy” based on competitive elitism. Today’s democracy

consists of political offices that are filled by means of contestation, with all adult citizens

regardless of gender, ethnicity, or religious persuasion participating the process and

deciding the outcome by vote. To review, classical democracy, was nurtured by a

specific form of political rule in ancient Greece whereby described by Aristotle as a

virtue in the rule of the many, provided it was exercised for the common good.

Democracy increases dramatically mainly in the West particularly in United

States and other European countries considering that it is believe to be an important

component for running an economically successful country. It is indeed true that all

verifiable evidence and history pointed out that democracy in said capitalist nations

thereby show the best economic outcomes in the world. In addition, The Group of

Seven (G7), an informal bloc of industrialized democracy namely: Canada, France,

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Comparative Political Studies 31, no 2 (1996)

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Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States are heavily western

type of democracy.

We discuss the concept of democracy in the West because it is a different story

in the East particularly in China, Russia and Singapore. Recently, in 2000s, Russia,

China and Singapore per se shows a different type of democracy or cannot be branded

as democracy at all. Like, the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) is

not democratic at all but a totalitarian. Totalitarian is relating to a system of government

that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state.

Therefore, it is not democratic at all.

Like I have mentioned, countries like China and Singapore adopted capitalism

similar in the West but have different form of governance. Singapore is the best

example of this different kind of governance called Authoritarianism. Although

Singapore has an effective government and leading on education and health.

Singaporean government is authoritarian, interventionist and bossy. Authoritarianism,

by definition, the enforcement or advocacy of strict obedience to authority at the

expense of personal freedom. Even though, Singapore, has general election in

choosing their leaders and/or representatives, a significant feature of democracy, still

the Singaporean government observes the Hobbesian view, which reads “Human

beings, regrettable it may be, are inherently vicious and have to be restrained from their

viciousness. Ergo, Singapore is Fine Country that refers to the many fines that the

country hands out. Yet, it must be noted that Singapore is known for its low crime rate

and impeccable cleanliness.

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 In conclusion, it is appearing that this democratic reconnaissance,

authoritarianism, is an effective form of governance and can get things done. Unlike, the

United States which is criticized recently for its poor education and health welfare,

Singaporean authoritarianism could be a guidance for governance. But we should be

careful in reaching progress at the expense of the people.

2. Effects of American Public Opinion

In US v Bustos, GR No. L12592, Justice J. Malcolm eloquently puts, Public

opinion is the constant source of liberty and democracy. Public Opinion has a great

impact on public policy. Public opinion is substantial and greatly affects political leaders

considering the public is responsible in getting them in the office in the first place. These

are the effects of American public opinion on:

a. Poverty: In Pew Research Center survey conducted on Jan. 21 – March

2014, when asked which view comes closer to their own, roughly half of the

public (51%) says the “government today can’t afford to do much more to help

the needy,” while 43% say “the government should do more to help needy

Americans, even if it means going deeper into debt.”

b. Economy: The top priority in American public opinion is strengthening the

country’s economy thereby in Pew Research Center study as of Jan. 7-11,

205 shows to quote a few: 1) American see the economy as improving; 2)

Ratings of Obama’s economic impact have also improved some, but they

were never high; 3) Positive views of the job situation have edged up, but

most Americans still says jobs are hard to find, etc.

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c. Social Justice: Social Justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth,

opportunities and privileges within a society. In relevance example conducted

by Pew Research Center entitled “How Americans view the Black Lives

Matter Movement” discloses that found general awareness in United States

but attitudes about the movement considerably varied.

d. Community Influential: American public opinion shapes the government

policy and initiatives thereby influences the decisions on their locality which

encourages involvement from community in delivery of quality public service.

e. Racism: According to Pew Research Center shows that American views of

racism as a major problem increase sharply, especially among Democrats.

The share of Americans who say racism is a “big problem” in society has

increased 8 percentage points in the past two years – and has roughly

doubles since 2011.