I believe the United States should reform its political rules and practices to become more democratic by using proportional representation to determine who gets seats in the legislature, extending voting rights and implementing a parliamentary system. I don’t think the U.S is as democratic as it has always claimed to be. Our current voting laws restrict many minorities from participating in elections. Besides from this, our majority rule system only allows for one or two parties to form all the laws and place restrictions. In my opinion, making these changes would give everyone who is living in this country equal rights and an equal opportunity to implement changes that will benefit the society as a whole. Proportional representation will give everyone a chance to speak up and that might provoke conflict among the parties so a parliamentary system should be introduced in order to keep things under control. A democracy will not be successful if people do not participate, which is why we need to extend voting rights. Most people who go out and vote are white elders who might not be familiar with the issues that lower classes and younger generations are facing. These are the people claiming that global warming is fake and that gun laws aren’t necessary. For these reasons, I believe we need a larger democracy where everyone participates and everyone is heard.
Proportional representation is the best way, in my opinion, to decide who gets seats in the legislature because every major party gets to have representatives stand up for what they believe in. Madison’s argument against a democracy was that people have too many differing opinions (Federalist 10) . For this reason, I feel that Proportional Representation would be a great system to implement considering that it balances out conflict by allowing factions to have seats proportionate to their percentage of popularity. There are critics who might ask: To what extent can we trust people? Will we have an unpopular leader in the legislative because he had 5% of the votes? I am positive that we will make the right decisions because we have the technology to inform and be informed. Nowadays, everyone has access to the internet and social media makes it easy to spread the word about important current issues, debates and any changes that we believe need to be made in order to help our community thrive. We also have the ability to research everything about the candidates and see which ones we think will make the best contributions. As opposed to plurality and majority rule, which usually have disproportionate outcomes, proportional representation is fair and allows voters to decide which representatives will take up seats in the legislative. This is extremely important if we are trying to become more democratic. There is a huge part of our population who doesn’t feel represented because our elections leave it up to a slight majority to decide which party gets seats in our legislature. Several democratic countries use proportional representation because more parties are represented and more people get to be heard when laws are being implemented.
When it comes to a democracy, it is very important for people to have a say in what goes on but we do not have enough participation in U.S elections. This is because our voting rights are fairly limited to U.S citizens who live in states represented in the legislature and who own an identification card. These restrictions make it nearly impossible for minorities to participate. Voting should be extended to anyone who’s lived in the United States for the past 10 years. U.S. Residents who have been living in the U.S for over a decade should be allowed to vote because we have lot of immigrants in the U.S who are educated and have lived long enough in this country to understand what decisions would be beneficial. Professor King brought to my attention that people in Puerto Rico are not allowed to vote because it is not a state, yet its been part of the United states since 1898. Furthermore, I don’t think an identification card should be required to vote because it prevents immigrants and certain age groups from voting. Elders, poor, and young people might not own an identification card because they can’t afford it or because they don’t drive. These are huge groups of people who are having the right to vote taken away. Personally, I think these restrictions are placed to prevent these minorities from voting in our elections. This needs to change and if people rule in a democracy, anyone who could possibly be affected by the outcomes should be allowed to participate in elections.
As a way to bring order into a democracy, I think we should reform our presidential system into a parliamentary system. This would calm conflict among the differing executive views and would make our government more flexible to changes. As different representatives form a part of our legislature, it is important to consider that these might not agree with a president chosen by a majority. For this reason, a parliamentary system would allow the legislature to form an agreement and choose a head of state based on the needs of the country. I believe our current presidential system gives the president too much power and if he/she disagrees with a decision, there is conflict with the congress. This conflicting process may lead to inaction and frozen politics, delaying the issue. Implementing a parliamentary system will speed up the process of law enforcement. The chief executive determines if laws are constitutional or not and can implement them directly. I think its a way to make quick effective changes possible. Not only does our current system give the president too much control over making decisions but also too many responsibilities. When executive power is distributed among two positions, the prime minister can focus more on enforcing or making policies while the head of state focuses on attending ceremonies and continuing tradition. A president holds both of these positions, which can take focus off of all the important duties.
I think we should strive for a more democratic Parliamentary system because we need quicker action to solve inequality issues and we need everyone to participate and have a say in decisions that may harm them. Not only should we use proportional representation to determine our legislature but also extend voting rights to everyone living under U.S territory because we live in one of the most diverse countries in the world. We have people with different cultures, values, social status, etc. Every single person living under the United States’ boundaries must be allowed to participate in elections in order to have a fair democracy. We were all born with a voice and freedom of speech so we should all have the equal right to use it. Although, people might oppose saying that a republic is more organized and that a country run by people will only get messy, I think these reforms will form a nice balanced constitution. By extending voting right, everyone will get to vote and according to this, representatives will get a fair amount of seats in the legislature. To avoid conflict among the branches, the Parliamentary system will allow legislators to come to an agreement and chose a chief executive who will determine if laws are constitutional or not.
