Democracy In The United States

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How would democracy be explained to a person who has never lived in one? Is democracy nothing more than putting what the majority wants over what the other side wants? If yes, then does the majority always have their way while the minority never does? Many would see the problem with this definition, that problem being that this is not how democracy has worked in our society. In our democratic society, it is not always the majority who get what they want. Instead, it has been seen that democracy is putting the constitution and the interpretation of the constitution first even if the majority does not always get its way. One event that has best expressed this definition of democracy is the Supreme Court Case of Texas v. Johnson. According …show more content…
But when one looks at the facts it is easy to see that that simply is not the case. Since the inception of the constitution, it has been the law of the United States of America, and it is the ideas expressed in the constitution by the founding fathers that govern our democracy. This is shown in the article “The Constitution,” when it is written, “These leaders corresponded about the ideas they were reading, quotes philosophers in their debates over the Revolution, and applied those ideas to the new government they formed through the framework of the Constitution.” This quote is saying that the founding fathers wrote the constitution based on principles that would protect the natural rights of every individual for everyone to be represented in the democracy thus making the constitution the framework of our government. Therefore this proves that the constitution is what guides our nation's democracy and that there is more to democracy than just doing what the majority wants. The nation uses the constitution to make its laws since it has been shown to take into account all citizens, it was written to help protect the natural rights of all people not just the majority. The phrase”life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” applies to not only the majority but everyone as a nation. It is …show more content…
According to The New York Times article “The Choice Between Kneeling And Winning” by David Leonhardt in the recent news, many athletes have begun kneeling for the national anthem as a sign of protest against the injustices that black people face in the United States of America. The article goes on to say that,”Almost 70 percent of Americans get that the protests are directed at police violence or Trump and not the flag, according to a YouGov/HuffPost poll. Only 36 percent consider the kneeling protest to be “appropriate.” This is saying that of those who understand the protests the majority says it is not appropriate. The important part to note is that while the majority is not in favor of the form of protest the constitution is. While the majority may not agree with the action, it does not mean that the action is illegal. This is proven in the CRC report for Congress “The United States Flag: Federal Law Relating to Display and Associated Questions.” The passage which prescribes American flag and National Anthem etiquette does not prescribe any penalties for non-compliance and functions simply as a guide to be voluntarily followed by civilians and civilian groups, In other words, it is not against the law to sit out the National Anthem. No matter what the popular opinion may want, our democracy is not based on just complying and giving into any majority opinion. The democracy relies on using the constitution,
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