Lecture Tuesday

Taking from the lecture that professor gave class Tuesday I learned a deeper meaning of democracy in American government. Democracy was not officially born in America, but it did blossomed here. When our founding fathers signed the American Constitution it opened up doors for countries across the world. Every other democracy in other countries copied some form of the America’s way of democracy.

There are two types of democracy: direct and representative also known as indirect. Direct is where every vote counts the same. I do not think the founding fathers believed this would be the best idea. They thought that most of the American population at the time was too uneducated to make decisions that could effect the entire country. It also seemed like the rich was always afraid that the poor would try to overthrow them. That is why America has a representative democracy. We elect leaders to voice our thoughts in American government. Professor pointed out the last election we had between Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton. Clinton won the popular vote in the election, but Donald Trump won the electoral vote. This has happened before in previous elections. Last president to win the election, but lost the popularity was President George W. Bush.

Pooled knowledge in philosophical beliefs leads to most rational/right decision but not the optimal one. From the lecture I learned that that means is that, what most people want is the right decision, but might not be the best decision. Professor used a great example with President Donald Trump saying that electing him might have been the most rational decision, but not the optimal one.

5 Responses to "Lecture Tuesday"

Kendall Crispin says:

September 7, 2017 at 9:59 pm

In both direct and indirect democracies people’s votes are equal. In representative democracy we just use leaders to represent what we believe by electing them. In addition, it would be very difficult to have a direct democracy because of the vast number of American citizens. I am a little confused on what you mean by the rich being afraid of the poor overthrowing them in terms of a direct or indirect democracy.
I think that it is interesting that we can elect leaders that aren’t necessarily end up being president. We are supposed to have this huge say, but that is proof that we are less significant than we think we are.
Finally, the right versus optimal point is also important, because people are impatient and they want to be pleased in the moment. When something goes bad they’re automatically upset, and they do not think about how it will pay off in the long run, which makes that difficult for humans.
Meghan Miller-Brown says:

September 9, 2017 at 3:19 pm

I definitely agree that the Founding Fathers felt as though not everyone’s vote should be equal. The number of individuals who were educated enough to make informed decisions about a government was probably very minimal and they most likely feared that it would be problematic. This is probably much of why our electoral college was put in place. At that time and for years later, it was most likely a wise decision.
However, now that the American people are much more educated, thanks to our education system, the media, and easy access to the Internet, information about political candidates can be accessed within seconds. Most Americans probably carry a small computer with them at all times, like the iPhone. So, is the electoral college and the Founding Fathers’ worry still relevant today?
I suppose the argument could be made that former President George W. Bush and President Donald Trump were not the “right decision” because in reality, it is not what the majority of the American people wanted. However, if the electoral college were eliminated, the right decision would truly be what the majority of people wanted, rather than what our representatives say we wanted.
Lauren Toth says:

September 10, 2017 at 2:13 pm

After dealing with King George and seeing what disservice parliament threw upon Americans, the founding fathers turned to a new structure of government. However at the time, they had certain goals in mind to achieve the leadership they envisioned. While they moved to a representational democracy, equality was not their main goal. But that might also have to do with the fact equality meant a different thing back then. The struggle still remains of creating the most equal government possible, which is why our government needs to be dynamic. However, I personally feel we will never reach a point where every single opinion has equality in the eyes of the government. This is due to many factors such as strong two sided political parties, passive voters, and not all Americans wanting to voice their opinions. This raises the question: Will USA’s democracy have a peak in equality?
Colby Ritten says:

September 10, 2017 at 9:26 pm

Interesting comment you had Andre about the earlier days of our democracy. I do agree when you said that our founding fathers would not of allowed a direct democracy due to the lack of educated citizens but do you think that could of changed if they saw how people were in todays society? Would they allow a more direct democracy? Our educational systems has progressed dramatically overtime and with the technological advancements that we have made, most everybody is kept up with the current events. Our technology helps us understand how our government is running and also helps us create our own opinion. With a more educated population and a better understanding of our current events, I believe that todays society could run a better direct democracy than the society we had back then. But I also think that having a representative democracy is the best choice. You are right on the philosophical belief that pooled knowledge leads to the most rational decision but not the optimal one. Even though todays population might have a more political stratum, we still have a large amount of apoliticals that could lead to a poor decision. So all-in-all making a representative democracy was the right decision.
Grant Golden says:

September 17, 2017 at 5:40 pm

I think the idea of a rational vs. optimal decision plays a big role in our world and government today. Our society is getting to the point where we have to pick the better of two evils. Wether this is in everyday things that affect us, or things on a larger scale such as our election this past year. It is a tough thing to grapple with but it is a something that this generation is going to have to deal with for years to come. I also agree with the above comment by Colby about the idea of direct democracy. I feel like in our generation today people are a lot more informed and educated about our countries political status. Also, as i commented in one of last weeks post, i firmly believe that even without a high level or formal education, every person knows what they want in a leader and is fully capable of making a meaningful vote and expressing their opinions about that.

Comments are closed.