A4

Traditional Democratic Theory: Enlightened Understanding

Enlightened understanding is the idea that a Democracy should be a melting pot of ideas, mainly given by having freedom of speech. These ideas should not be distorted, so the public can have a general idea of how issues really are. In the democracy that America has today, the idea of Enlightened understanding has become convoluted. In today's news sources, information is being distorted to fit certain ideas or to reach certain audiences. Fox news, which is known as the "conservative's news channel" occasionally lies to get views. They distort the real message only to get viewers to watch their programs. But it is not only Fox news that has this problem, it is also the other news sources we see everyday. From the local news to national, you are forced to pick a side that you most agree with, and listen to everything that they say. Usually their opinion is greatly biased, and glazes over the few important, game-changing facts. This is not the Enlightened understanding that traditional theory asks for. This is all pandering for who can get the most views, and the most attention for false, drama causing headlines.

Theories of American Democracy

The Elite and Class theory is what I believe that America is today. Even though we have come a long way from the racism and hatred of the early 20th century, there is still a long way to go. Around the nation, not only do you see racism, but the massive poverty gap in between classes. People in our country are starving and paying high taxes, while others are living comfortably and barely paying 15% tax. It is highly unfair to assume that we have met a perfect democracy until we fix these obvious problems. 

American Political Culture

Classism is a possible candidate to add to the list, seeing as the rigid class structure controls society as of now.