Politics and Justice in the US Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Politics and Justice in the US - Research Paper Example The United States of America has long faced the challenge of electing leaders who in a free and democratic manner. The US has one of the highest numbers of elected people in office with over 500,000 people being elected into different electoral roles. As a result, a lot of elections are conducted almost every now and then in the United States. The process of electioneering and its effect relation to democracy is that it does not assist in opening up democratic space in the United States. This is because the American democratic system is dogged by challenges such as parochialism, incumbency and fragmentation of decisions. The sheer number of electoral positions in the United States means that its citizens are constantly involved in elections which are not healthy for democracy (Dye, 2011). Moreover, the elected officials in the United States stay long in office and thus this provides a challenge brought about by incumbency. Incumbency does little in reforming the ideas and policies pr actised in the United States of America (Herbst, 2011). Incumbency does not reflect the wishes and the changing dynamics of the US population. Incumbency helps in stifling democracy in many areas of the United States of America and this is witnessed by Senators or Governors who occupy their offices for long periods of time. Democracy requires the proper functioning of organs of the government and this requires good decision making. ... Democracy requires the proper functioning of organs of the government and this requires good decision making. The Senate is one of the important organs of government since it is involved in making laws. However, due to constant wrangling and taking of different positions by law makers. We have a situation whereby ideals and policies are sacrificed since every party or group in the house of Senate take different positions (Dye, 2011). This is because Incumbency might in some situations lead to lack of party identity and formation of caucuses that differ from their own party. The high rate of incumbency has dealt a great deal of damage to democracy since people find to difficult to identify with their representatives. As a result, these elected leaders will take advantage of this situation to serve self interests. The fragmentation of decisions is detrimental to the process of law making (Reynolds, 2007). Since Senate house committees run the house and the process of law making. These committees take on issues on a local basis which is outside their mandate. As a result, the Senate has been reduced to a body that serves the interests of few individuals. For example, some senators might have been influenced by certain lobby groups to pass or rejects some bills beneficial to certain individuals or companies (Sinha, 2007). However, this is not the greatest hurdle facing American democracy since the biggest problem facing Americans is representation. Leaders elected in America have participated in democratic election albeit with difficult challenges. These challenges have undermined democracy since they are fundamental in the creation of equal opportunities for everybody as democracy