Jennifer Dao

Taylor
English 1A
16 September 2014
Democracy
Kings are not necessary for an effective government. When the law, government leaders
and citizens come together in harmony, a democracy is formed. A democracy is a form of
government that rests on the active participation of the majority rule to influence the laws,
voting, and other governmental activities. The citizens are living branches of the government that
hold it up, and are not simply the leaves that grow from it. A democracy has the basic principles
of majority rule, individual rights, and a decentralized government. The United States has its
own variations of democracy. Other countries, such as Switzerland and the United Kingdom,
have a different variation of democracy. Democracy, in all its forms, provides a stable
government where equality and the people are valued.
Democratic governments have several basic principles that are common to all variations.
Firstly, a constitution, which is a set of laws set as the main backbone of the government, rules as
the supreme law of the land. Unlike a monarchy, government officials are given no ability to do
illegal activities that are against the law. The citizens are also given the ability, either directly or
indirectly, to participate in governmental decisions, such as electing leaders and influencing the
law. Another important feature of a democracy is the existence of political parties. Groups of
people with distinctive values and beliefs in how the government should legislate laws often
form into two or more political groups that attempt to influence government policy. Last of all,
freedom is an important value in democracies, as people are allowed to have a voice that may be
contrary to the governmental leaders predominant opinions. A democracy holds the values of
the supreme rule of the constitution and law, majority rule, and individual rights as necessary for
the health of their government.
The United States has developed its own unique form of democracy. Our government has
its own variation of democracy, which can be classified as a presidential democracy. In this form
of democracy, authority and significance is given to the president, who is considered the head of
the government. Unlike other forms of democracy, this individual exercises a great amount of
authority, and sometimes may ignore the majority opinion of the parliament in some occasions.
However, the citizens can petition and influence the governments decision through other
methods if there is distaste towards a decision. The United States form of democracy is also
indirect, since law legislation and presidential elections usually do not count every individual
vote or perspective, but factors in the votes of Congress, who are elected by the people. Overall,
the United States has a successful form of democratic government that has its own spin on how
to integrate the principles of democracy while retaining order and power.
Other countries, such as Switzerland and the United Kingdom, have different forms of
democracy. For example, in Switzerland, a direct democracy is in place. Unlike the United

States president, the head of state has little practical importance and maintains office for only a
year. The governments focus is on members with equal rights that represent all major parties,
the parliament, which makes major decisions and laws. The people have a strong position in this
democracy and can overturn the parliaments decisions in some cases. In contrast, in countries
like the United Kingdom, which integrates a parliamentary democracy, the parliament is given
the most authority. Unlike other democracies, the government members must be elected as
members of the parliament. Overall, democracies vary depending on different mindsets of what
an effective government looks likes, but they all provide a stable government if initiated
correctly.
In conclusion, democratic governments around the world have many differences and
similarities. They all contain the basic ideas of individual rights, the supremacy of the
constitution, and citizen participation. How these ideas are used and projected, as well as where
the lawmaking authority lies, is done in different ways, as seen by presidential, parliamentary,
and direct democracies of the world. In my opinion, the ideal form of democratic government is
the one the United States integrates. It involves a highly complex process in many decision
making processes that disallows abuse of power. Many times the citizens can be ignorant of
present issues and simply bandwagon onto a certain idea based on popular opinion or
doctrination. As a result, its ideal for more authority to be placed on those better versed in the
needs of the country, such as the president and Congress members, whom are elected by the
people and can easily be removed for corruption. In the end, many forms of democracy are
perfectly capable, as long as the power is not compounded too much in one area.