Irony of Democracy free essay sample

Elites, and not the masses, govern the United States: all major decisions are made by the elite minority†¦. they have power. Elite members are anyone who participates in decisions that allocate resources for society Masses are the people that do not have power compared to elites. They usually are very uninformed, and many don’t even vote in the national election. Their lives are shaped by the institutions that the elites create Elite theory is an approach to describing society, focusing on the few with power, their values, their behavior, and their demographics In a democracy, elites have to take control and they have power over the resources. Despite the differences in political parties, elites generally have consensus over the broader issues (limiting government, individual liberties, and sanctity of private property) Iron Law of Oligarchy: theory in political science stating that an elite is inevitable in any social organization, of any size, whether family, club, union, business, or society as a whole (there must be elites in any style of government or society†¦there needs to be control and we can’t have all the millions of people deciding what laws are good for us) ? Upward mobility is common in our country. We will write a custom essay sample on Irony of Democracy or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page People wouldn’t put in so much effort in their lives if they knew they were going to stay in the same social class. Thus, a circulation of elites occurs, where there is a movement of talented and ambitious individuals from the lower strata into the elite ? Democracy: where there is a participation in government, where people are highly involved and the country forms its own identity. â€Å"Let the people rule† (â€Å"majority rule, minority rights†) ? The United States took much of its work from John Locke, who was in favor of â€Å"natural rights to life, liberty, and property† ? Public policy reflects not the demands of the masses but the prevailing values of the elite, elites could act out of narrow self-interest and could risk undermining mass support ? Referendum: a device by which the electorate must approve decisions of the legislative before these become law or become part of the state constitution or by which the electorate must approve of proposals placed on the ballot by popular initiative ? Initiative: a device whereby a specified number or percentage of voters, through the use of a petition, may have a proposed measure placed on the ballot for adoption or rejection by the electorate of the state ? Recall: a petition for an election to decide whether or not an incumbent official should be ousted from office before the end of his or her term ? Portal law: the law should treat everyone equally by the government ? Direct democracy: when the masses vote directly for his or her politicians†¦. founders fear it would lead to rapid change ? Republic: elect someone to represent you in government ? Elitism: the theory that elites rule over the masses. Division between the masses and the elites is emphasized. Emphasizes the importance to leaders of maintaining their positions of power†¦you never know when the masses will start gaining power. The compromise among elite leadership will lead to much decision-making. Communication flows from the elites to the masses. No matter what party, all elites want power ? Pluralism: society is divided into interest groups, and leaders make decisions on bargaining and jousting. Thus, democratic values can be preserved, and voters exercise meaning choices in elections, and new elites can gain access to power. Emphasizes the division of society into interests and competition between leadership groups. With conflict from the elites, the people will see their interests come through. Competition among leader groups protects the individual. Masses have real influence on policy through interest groups and elections. Focuses on governmental leaders chosen directly in elections and asserts that leaders can be held accountable to the people ? Elite distemper: elitists sometimes don’t do the right thing (e. g. adultery, Elliot Spitzer) ? Masses are to blame, we believe in freedom of speech, yet a lot of times we don’t go by that (terrorism). We also don’t follow other amendments, we just do what we want instead of abiding by law ? Political stability depends on people being involved in their own lives, we need the masses to be slightly inattentive ? The masses believe that officials don’t care what the masses think ? Classical liberalism: an ideology that holds that society is created by a social contract among rational individuals capable of thinking for themselves and determining what is in their own best interest who then choose to give up some freedoms in exchange for security ? Review charts on democratic, elite, and pluralistic theory ? Mass unrest: extremist and intolerant political movements, led by appeals to racial hatred, class antagonism, and personal fears ? Elite repression: limitations on dissent, speech, and assembly in the name of law and order) ? It is the irony of democracy that the survival of democratic values-individual dignity, limited government, equality of opportunity, private property, freedom of speech and press, religious tolerance, and due process of law-depends on enlightened elites ? Democratic values can be preserved only by multiple competitive elites-the media, parties, interest groups, corporations, unions and other independent institutions ? Power is the ability to influence people and events by granting or withholding valuable resources ? Democratic theory proposes: popular participation in the decisions that shape the lives of individuals in a society, government by majority rule with recognition of the rights of minorities to try to become majorities, a commitment to individual dignity and the preservation of the classical liberal values of life, liberty, and property, and also a commitment to equal opportunity for all individuals to develop their capacities through political participation ? Chapter 2- The Elite Consensus of the Founding Fathers: US Political Principles The Articles of Confederation: established a â€Å"firm league of friendship† among the states (effective from 1781 to 1789) ? Problem with the AOC? Too much power to the states, allowed states to regulate commerce and to levy taxes. ? The Annapolis Convention, written by Hamilton, adopted a report that outlined the defects of the AOC and called on the states to send delegates to a new convention ? In summer 1786, Shay’s Rebellion was a violent uprising threatened the property and creditor class and galvanized the elite into action. (Masses vs Elites)†¦even though it was put down, forced Congress to begin to write a new Constitution, focusing on a stronger central government ? George Washington was quickly called the leader of the nation, and stood at the apex of US elite structure, and ultimately was the 1st President of the United States ? The Founding Fathers had an extense of education, mainly from Harvard, William and Mary, and Yale†¦.. education was key to writing the Constitution ? Most of the Founders were government bond holders, investors, and owned slaves ? Classical liberalism: an ideology that holds that society is created by a social contract among rational individuals capable of thinking for themselves and determining what is in their own best interest who then choose to give up some freedoms in exchange for some security ? Classical conservatism: a world view that saw human nature as flawed and prove to weakness, thus a politics was needed that would mitigate the worst of the damage humans might inflict on themselves ? Social contract theory: the core concept is that society exists because the free individuals who compose it have made a rational decision that forming society is in their self-interest ? The Founding Fathers agreed the masses should have only a limited, indirect role in selecting decision makers, and that decision makers themselves should be men of wealth, education, and proven leadership ability. Also believed in limited government that could not threaten liberty or property ? This elite consensus at the time was still much more radical compared with the beliefs of elite contemporaries elsewhere in the world: everywhere else mainly contained principles of hereditary monarchy and privileged nobility, whereas US elites were committed to republicanism ? Connecticut Compromise: put together the Virginia and NJ Compromises, where the â€Å"lower house† would be based on population, and the â€Å"upper house† would be equal with two senators from each house ? 3/5 compromise: 3/5 of the slaves of each state would be counted for the purpose of both representation and apportioning direct taxes ? The interstate commerce clause prohibited the states from taxing either imports or exports, which created a free-trade area over the 13 states (at the time) ? The Convention approved the Constitution without property qualifications on officeholders or voters†¦. but no votes to women until the 19th amendment in 1920 ? Elites much more benefited more directly and immediately than did nonelites†¦. the elites wouldn’t have adopted the Constitution if otherwise ? The Constitution says that the government can levy direct taxes only on the basis of population and it follows that it could not levy such taxes in proportion to wealth†¦. only did the 16th amendment in 1913 was protection against levying progressive income taxes broken ? Congress is given to power to: make bankruptcy laws, to coin money and regulate its value, to fix standards of weights and measures, to punish counterfeiting, to establish post offices and post roads, and to pass copyright and patent laws to protect authors and inventors†¦. much more power than in the AOC ? States were banned from coining any sort of money and couldn’t pass any law â€Å"impairing the obligation of contracts† ? From the Constitution, the President was made â€Å"commander-in-chief†: he was allowed to make treaties with the advice and consent of the State, leader of the army and navy when called into federal service, and also send and receive ambassadors ? No taxes can be placed on exports, but tariffs (taxes on imports) are allowed, a form of protection for domestic industries ? The US government built in the slow, unwieldy process into the Constitution to protect private interests from governmental interference and to shield the government and makes it easy for established groups to oppose change, then it is working as intended (checks and balances) ? see tables on page 41 ? Marbury v. Madison: constitutionalized judicial review, where laws of states and the federal government can be review for their constitutionalities ? Of the 4 decision-making entities established, only the House was to be directly elected by the people, due to the 17th Amendment now senators are direct as well ? The fundamental guarantees of liberty in the Bill of Rights were political concessions by the nation’s elite ? Chapter 3: Elites in America An elite member is anyone who participates in decisions that allocate resources for society, not just those who participate in decision making as part of the government ? Corporate and personal wealth is channeled through foundations to universities and think tanks to undertake policy research and develop policy recommendations ? â€Å"circulation of elites†: the movement of talented and ambitious individuals from the lower strata into the elite ? The US has never experienced a true revolution that forcibly replaced government elites with non-elites (incremental rather not revolutionary) ? McCulloch v. Maryland: firmly established the principle that Congress has the right to choose any appropriate means for carrying out the delegated powers of the national government ? â€Å"national and proper† clause: gives Congress many powers the Constitution many powers it doesn’t explicitly grant, providing legal justification for the continuing expansion of the federal government ? Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans took over many of Hamilton’s policies and drove out the entire Federalist party but taking over a lot of their programs and agreeing on a lot of the same things ? The expansion in the West led the â€Å"Jacksonians† of the 1820s to become louder advocates that all white men should have the right to vote and to hold public office because there was a greater chance that a member of the masses would hold power ? Slavery was a huge issue: white elites in the South highly benefited from slave labor, white elites in the North had no use for slaves and had no direct interest for abolishing it. The problem was this now â€Å"new West†: The Northern elites wanted a West composed of small farmers who produced food and raw materials for the industrial and commercial East and provided a market for eastern goods. The south needed protection for the cotton economy. ? Dred Scott v. Sanford: Missouri Compromise was deemed unconstitutional because Congress had no authority to forbid slavery in any territory, the Constitution protected slave property like any other property ? Contrary to popular belief, Lincoln didn’t want to free the slaves at first. He wished to preserve the Union, halt slavery in the western territories, to restore orderly government, and to establish that the states cannot resist national authority without force ? The Emancipation Proclamation was an attempt from Lincoln for political and military action by the president for the sake of helping to preserve the Union ? The loss of southern planters after the Civil War led way to higher business and industries in the North; this led to the emergence of â€Å"trusts†, but monopolies are by definition anti-competitive and violate a core elite consensus on free competition in a free marketplace, resulting in elite demand for anti-trust action by the government ? Both Roosevelt and Wilson had programs to preserve competition and believed elites must function in the public interest and that some government regulation might be required to see that they do so ? FDR believed government needed to undertake more careful economic planning to adapt â€Å"existing economic organizations to the service of the people†. He highly reformed the economy with the New Deal ? Noblesse oblige: elite responsibility for the welfare of the masses ? The federal government has been increasing in its size, see Figure 3. 2 for further details ? Economic elites decide what will be produced, how it will be produced, how much it will cost, how many people will be employed, who will be employed, and what their wages will be. Decide how goods and services will be distributed, how much money will be available for loans, what interest rates will be charged, and what technologies will be developed ? Economic elites: the men and women who hold positions of power in those businesses, whether as executives or directors ? The US IRS receive about 6 million corporate tax returns each year, and only 25,000 (. 4 percent) come from corporations that earn over $50 million in annual revenues†¦.. yet these large corporations account for nearly 3/4th of the total corporate revenues in the nation ? The largest US investment firms largely decide how the nation will invest in its future. They decide whether, when, and under what terms US corporations can borrow money from and sell stocks and bonds to the general public ? Managerialism: general management skills are more important than detailed production-specific knowledge ? Most stockholders sign over â€Å"proxies† so top management can cast these proxy votes at the annual meetings of stockholders ? The formal division of power in a corporation is between the board of directors, elected by the shareholders, and the company executives, hired and fired by the board†¦board sets policy ? Corporate power is further concentrated by a system of interlocking directorates, in which a director of one corporation also sits on the boards of one or more other corporations ? â€Å"revolving door†: elites move from power positions in banking, industry, etc. to government positions ? The policy-planning groups, or think tanks, are the central coordinating points in the policy-making process by reviewing the relevant university and foundation-supported research on topics on interest, with the goal of developing policy recommendations-explicit programs designed to resolve or ameliorate national problems ? The media define the â€Å"problem† as a problem and thus set the agenda for policy making, encourage politicians to assume new policy stances by allocating valuable network broadcast time to those who will speak out in favor of new policy directions ? According to elite theory, the movement of nonelites into elite positions must be slow and continuous in order to maintain stability and avoid revolution ? Chapter 4-Masses in the United States Perhaps the greatest threat to democracy in the United States is the continuing prevalence of apathy and ignorance among the masses†¦eligible US citizens have about a 50% turnout in PRESIDENTIAL elections ? Real worker wages are still basically where they were 40 years ago despite decades of overall economic growth ? Deunionization is partly a product of the globalization of the economy†¦. if workers are unhappy, factors could move or immigrants could replace them ? Distrust and cynicism characterize mass attitudes toward government and politics†¦disrespect of authority and the increase of media and decrease of political parties have led to cynicism ? Level of education is related to degree of tolerance and respect for civil liberty in the United States; the more education, the higher the tolerance ? Mass confidence in US institutions is generally higher than mass confidence in the people who run the same institutions ? People in the US are very ignorant to their own country; only a little over half the people even know the 10 amendments are the Bill of Rights! ? Halo effect: giving socially approved responses to questions regardless of their true feelings; many people don’t care and hold no opinion on political issues, thus making polls sometimes could be useless ? Conspiracy theories: irrational theories about power, usually when the elites feel very separated from the masses, where much of the population feels powerless ? Sustained political participation-voting consistently in election after election for state and local offices as well as Congress and the president-is very rare ? Elites hope that masses will be apathetic; thus they have more leeway in what policies they want to for and most people won’t care. However, when masses protest, that’s when elites could be in some trouble and it could threaten democratic values ? Mass unrest typically occurs after a defeat in a war, or something domestically such as economic depression or severe unemployment ? Counterelites: people who wish to become elites immediately†¦. without going through the â€Å"circulation of elite† process. They’re very dangerous by threatening democratic values, and seek to exploit the worst attribute of mass politics such as intolerance or race hatred ? Right counterelites have been much stronger than left counterelites, such as the KKK and self-styled citizen â€Å"militias†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. they also contributed to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing ? Elites become more repressive during times of crisis: 9/11 came with more restrictions on freedom and more surveillance on their papers and communication, Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus during the Civil War, and Japanese-American citizens were put in interment camps after the outbreak of World War II ? Income inequality has decreased earnings, which leads to threat of the ideal of social mobility ? Chapter 5- The Media: Elite-Mass Communication Television is the most common form of media for the elites to portray to the masses ? The political functions of the mass media include news making, interpretation, socialization, persuasion, and agenda setting ? NEWS MAKING= deciding what gets on the air and allocating time on their shows and papers to grab the publics attention ? INTERPRETATION= news makers search for an angle on a story and put it into context to get the masses to listen to their message. Many news stations are based on ideology ? SOCIALIZATION= teach masses the elites preferred political norms and values through both news and entertainment programming, usually with elite interference. Examples include election night, and entertainment programs ? PERSUASION= when big powerful men make deliberate attempts to affect peoples beliefs, attitudes, or behavior. EX: political campaigns ? AGENDA SETTING= its the first step of policy making which determine which issues are worthy of consideration. Politicians can call issues different names such as crisis to make the masses more attentive ? There is a liberal bias in the media: ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN tend to interpret news in a more liberal sense. Fox News came along and gave a conservative viewpoint, so more conservatives could turn in the media and have more support of the right-wingers ? The Sullivan Rule requires public officials not only to show the media published or broadcast false and damaging statements but also to prove they did so knowing at the time their statements were false and damaging or did so with reckless disregard for the truth or falsehood of their statements. first amendment guarantees a powerful, independent, and critical media elite ? Many younger people in the world are now getting their news from the Internet ? Congress unsucessfully attempted to outlaw offensive material on the Internet in its Communications Decency Act of 1996. but Supreme Court shut it down due to 1st Amendment rights ? candidate image: the personal traits of the candidates and their ability to project a personal image of charm, etc. ? The cost of campaigning have risen dramatically because of the high cost of professional ad agencies and television advertising ? Many reporting during campaigns is horse race reporting which is just simply talking about the race, instead of actually policy issues ? Sound bites take away time from the word of the actual candidates and puts more time back to the media bias reporting ? The masses suffer from information overload, with so many communications coming at masses, they cant process them all. Elites have more trouble influencing them if their brains are dead ? The masses use selective perception with a mental screening out information where they disagree. Thus, media elites have less of a chance to influence the minds of the masses ?