The Destabilization Of Democracy In The United States

Democracy is a system of government in which government is accountable to and for the citizens. Democracy is built on basic principles that if not met will destabilize the ideals of democracy. These principles include political equality, outlets for popular consultation, and majority rule. If large segments of the population are denied political rights by virtue of their race, family heritage, economic status, or religious affiliation, than political influence is not in the hands of the people, and the government fails to meet the principles. The Patriot Act/Freedom Act is an example of the government giving military power to wiretap, search business records, and conducting surveillance of individuals suspected of terrorist-related activities
not linked to terrorist groups. The ability for them to obtain confidential information of people without the need of the judicial system helps ignores the rights obtained through democracy.
Popular Consultation is the process or mechanism through which people have the opportunity to express their opinions and be heard regularly.
In this case, democracy can be destabilized due to limited opportunities for the working class to be heard and alter changes in the communities in which they live. Majority Rule means that when citizens disagree about a political decision or candidate then the decision made or the candidate selected will be the one preferred by the larger group of people. The problem that arises with majority rule is that minorities would not be given any political power. Destabilization of democracy is happening because minorities are unable to be heard and laws are put in place against their favor. This causes strikes and protests. Protests is a tool interested groups use to effect change and to fight for their right to veto a policy or whole power government in order to make a systematic change. This destabilizes the very idea of democracy because the government isn’t maintaining accountability for minorities and their needs. For example, Venezuela has opposition towards Nicolas Maduro who won the April 2013 election with barely 50.7 percent of the electorate, resulting in chaos and violence. Organized marches one after another was use to confront the needs of groups previously
ignored.
Closer to home, an example of minorities being ignored is the Stop-And-Frisk program enacted by the New York Police department.
I believe it’s a great example of democracy destabilizing political equality. The government gave overwhelming power to an elite group, the police, to stop anyone they deem. In most cases the people stopped were minorities. So, people were denied rights based on their race and economic status. Political differences causes the destabilization of democracy. Different cultures tend to get ignored in policy making. The accountability of a democratic nation is subject to limitations because throughout history it has shown that only a select few are
acknowledged.