Zach Johnson
Prof. Dollieslager
English 112
19, April 2018
What Government is The United States?
The United States is characterized by many things including; freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, and the ability to vote officials into office. Many would describe this system as a “constitutional democracy” which is essentially a system in which the people have authority of the government. This is known as consent of the governed or popular sovereignty. However, this may not be the appropriate category. The United States system of government is entirely too complicated to be placed under something so simple. Therefore, the united states not only falls under this category but also an ethnocracy in reference race relations, an oligarchy which has a select few leaders, and a corporatocracy in which many laws are passed to benefit big business.
Even though the United States is considered to be a nation of freedom and equality there are definite characteristics that place the government under an ethnocracy. This is a widely debated topic, and has been since the abolition of slavery in the late 19th century. For example, once slaves were freed there were Jim Crow laws put into effect which widely discriminated against the African American community. In today’s society however, whether the U.S. government is catered to the prominent race (white) has been widely disputed. There are those that believe that our ethnocratic government was displaced years ago, but some say otherwise. Though it may not be as blatant as before, there has clearly been some ethnocentric remarks made by people in political power, such as President Trump, against those mainly of Hispanic descent. These remarks have led to political propaganda against said ethnic groups which have inspired action to be taken against them.
Another category that the United States could partially fall under is an oligarchy. This system of government is ruled by a few people of importance, leaving the rest. The United States has been described as an oligarchy in reference the top 1% of earners. The 1% are the wealthiest individuals in the United States. One of the main points to support oligarchical influence is taxes. There is debate over the amount of taxes that should be paid. Should there be a flat tax rate or should taxes be based on income? Currently there are loopholes that have the wealthy paying little to no federal taxes while those not as fortunate are paying more. This is clearly representative of an oligarchy as this small percentage of people are able to get a “free pass”.
The fact remains that often time’s big businesses and the wealthiest individuals have more political influence than the average American and therefore more laws are passed in their favor in response to large donations, sponsorships, and campaign funding. One characteristic of the Republican Party is that they tend to favor big businesses. In the United States today there are many businesses that make billions of dollars off of the American citizens. These companies include social media, cell phone providers, and many others. Something that has been in recent news is the repeal of net neutrality. It is important to note that net neutrality is by definition the principle that internet providers should enable access to all content regardless of the source, and without favoring or blocking particular products or websites. This is important because without net neutrality, businesses such as Verizon or AT&T can charge their users extra fees to use previously free applications or sites such as Facebook or YouTube. Essentially net neutrality was repealed in favor of big businesses receiving more money from individuals within the country. This is a characteristic of a corporatocracy in which the large businesses in the country rule and influence laws in their favor.
To simply sum up the American government under the umbrella of a constitutional democracy would be doing an injustice. There are many different forms of government which work together in order to make the system work the way it does. Some of the political tendencies may not be the most ethical or in favor of the majority and therefore constitutional democracy cannot be used to single handedly describe the nation’s government. If the U.S. was in fact a constitutional democracy, there wouldn’t be an electoral college and instead the popular vote would win each time. In many ways, the United States is just as it was once described, a unique and diverse country, which just so happens to have a just as unique form of government.