US Democracy

In any system which claims to be democratic, a question of its legitimacy remains. A truly democratic political system has certain characteristics which prove its legitimacy with their existence. One essential characteristic of a legitimate democracy is that it allows people to freely make choices without government intervention. Another necessary characteristic which legitimates government is that every vote must count equally: one vote for every person. For this equality to occur, all people must be subject to the same laws, have equal civil rights, and be allowed to freely express their ideas. Minority rights are also crucial in a legitimate democracy. No matter how unpopular their views, all people should enjoy the freedoms of speech, press and assembly. Public policy should be made publicly, not secretly, and regularly scheduled elections should be held. Since "legitimacy" may be defined as "the feeling or opinion the people have that government is based upon morally defensible principles and that they should therefore obey it," then there must necessarily be a connection between what the people want and what the government is doing if legitimacy is to occur.

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Some common words found in the essay are:
Legitimate Democracy, Peter Principle, Classical Liberals, Marbury Madison, House Senate, Power Congress, Imperial Presidency, Court Justices, War II, Senators Representatives, public policy, legitimate democracy, scheduled elections, regularly scheduled elections, regularly scheduled, policy publicly secretly, allows people, elect president, seniority system, publicly secretly, vote person, income education, public policy publicly,
Approximate Word count = 1316
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)