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What's the U. S. all about? When asked that question almost everyone I know would reply: "Well, the U. S. represents democracy, capitalism, freedom, etc. " The first thing I noticed is that everyone seems to mention democracy first.
If you quiz a random American on this, that's probably what they " ll think of too. It's also a point of view that might be the source of resentment for many Americans who are unhappy with our government right now. Why would that be? Because the U. S. is actually not a pure democracy, as I'm sure you already knew, but a republic.
This means the government is set up in such a way that the people as a whole elect their leaders, those who they think would best represent them, and then those leaders handle the big issues, such as foreign policy, legislation, or legal interpretation. In principle this is a good system, since it would be virtually impossible for everyone in the U. S. to vote on every issue facing our nation. With this vision our forefathers created a strong governmental system, one they hoped would withstand the tests of time. And it has.
Until now. Many Americans feel the modern American government is bloated, deceptive and overly convoluted beast that isn't living up to its founding principles. This has become quite apparent in the 2000 Presidential election in which a process that should last little more than a day, the counting of ballots, has lasted more than two weeks. The foremost problem that this election demonstrates very clearly is a lack of any real political direction. Neither candidate, or party for that matter, can presently demonstrate substantial division on major subjects. While the parties generally tend one way or the other on issues, there are no longer strong and fast party-wide philosophies that one can count on.
When our Government was first created there were major divisions between the parties of the time. Even up until around WWII both parties had strong separate characters that helped voters in choosing the right person to represent them. Over the last fifty years, however, the parties have started to grow together, neither side feeling safe as the representation of a political or philosophical extreme. Now this move towards mediocrity has finally culminated in one of the closest races for the presidency in U.
S. history. In the 2000 Presidential election, the two major party candidates, Al Gore and George W. Bush, have split the popular vote for the country almost exactly down the middle. Out of roughly 100 -million people that voted this year, each candidate won around 49 -million votes, the remaining two to three million votes going to third party candidates such as Ralph Nader and Pat Buchanan. The difference between the two popular vote totals is amazingly small, at less than 400, 000 votes, or about. 4 percent of the voter turnout.
However, what I really found interesting was that this giant split was formed on the grounds of philosophy, not geography. One would expect with a split this even that the candidates somehow divvied up all the States, which resulted in a near perfect split of the population. But quite on the contrary, each State and even most large interest groups were split in half by the vote. The candidates must be fairly similar if such a split is possible. The second issue I saw in the election is something that has been growing for a long time.
According to a news. excite. com article, "U. S. Voter Turnout Up Modestly From 1996, " only a little over 100 -million people voted in this years elections although the estimated voter population in the U. S.
is over 200 -million. Roughly 51 percent of the eligible voters in this country voted this year. That means half the people were too apathetic about politics to get up, walk to a voting booth, and vote. An analysis of the voter turnout over the last 4 decades conducted by the Federal Election Commission shows that 63 percent of the eligible population voted in 1960.
Since then the percentage has steadily been dropping with every election year that comes around. This is symptomatic of a population disillusioned about the government and politics in general. People want to see the officials they elect bring about change. They want to see the votes they make have an effect on how their lives change, but as I mentioned before, they are thwarted at every opportunity by two political parties that seem to have a hidden pact of mediocrity. Another factor that has been growing in importance over the last couple of years is the independent third party. Although the buzz surrounding this subject died down somewhat after Ross Perot made his failed bid for power in 1992, the third party has reserved with the appearance of Ralph Nader.
Nader is the leader of the Green Party. One of his main campaign points was that the Bush and Gore administrations would turn out the same. This point and his other reform policies are so strong that Nader was able to finance his campaign almost entirely by charging people to hear him speak in person. After most of the ballots had been counted Nader had accumulated roughly 2. 5 -million votes or 2. 5 percent of the voter turnout. Although he had no real financial or a political backing Nader managed to off-balance (or in this case balance) the otherwise completely two-party election. Nader's rise to national prominence, especially in the wake of this amazing election, symbolizes a growing restlessness among the public or at least among American youths.
These youths have little experience with the government and therefore they feel less loyalty towards the current two-party system. The final and probably most pronounced symptom of our government's faults is the international embarrassment brought on by this election. The U. S.
has become something of an international soap opera, as every other country in the world watches. During the O. J. Simpson criminal trial, the world watched as the U. S.
turned a criminal investigation into a yearlong soap opera. Shortly after that trial ended, the world was introduced to a new kind of scandal in the U. S. The current U. S.
President, Bill Clinton, was accused of sexual harassment and subsequently an attempt was made to impeach him. The reason this investigation was so popular worldwide is that the most powerful man in the world was being impeached, not for misusing the power of his office, but because he had been a bad husband and tried to conceal it. The Clinton scandal was definitely the event that proved that all the world is a stage and the U. S. is now the clown on it.
Since the scandal no major bungling's have occurred to bring the worlds attention back to the U. S. , until now. The problems that officials have encountered while counting the ballots have produced numerous comments from other nations. Countries such as China and Germany, thinking he was the new President, sent congratulatory messages to candidate George W.
Bush. When they discovered that the election hadn't really ended yet, they hastily retracted their messages, but the embarrassment still remains for both sides. Everyone is wondering why these elections are taking so long. Although the storm isn't over yet, one thing that's for certain is that the number of jokes about the U. S. will have increased by the time the storm is over.
What has this election taught us? It has hopefully pointed out to the country as a whole that our current system of government is continually slowing itself down more and more. It aims for mediocrity, while growing in size and complexity. The result is that the public is becoming increasingly apathetic towards politics and yearns for a new party to lead the way to change. Whether that change is good or not in the short-term seems to be unimportant as long as it comes at all. People are yearning for a golden path away from the corruption and convolution that pervades our current government and they will take whatever they can get.
Perhaps we are moving towards a new political era, where the two current parties combine to oppose a more rebellious reform party. Perhaps we " re simply watching the decay of a governmental system. Who knows what lies ahead? Work Cited Dunham, Will. U.
S. Voter Turnout Up Modestly From 1996. November 8, 2000. November 8, 2000. National Voter Turnout in Federal Elections: 1960 - 1996. November 8, 2000.
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