Political Systems: Direct Democracy and Capitalism

Introduction

The Founding Fathers grappled with the political system development during the 18th century when they drafted the U.S. Constitution. Ever since, it has sparked debate over the nature of the nation's political system. This paper explores the similarities and differences of two political systems, i.e. Direct Democracy and Communism.

Direct Democracy

Under the U.S. system of governance, elected representatives are entrusted with creating laws and acting in the people's best interests. Popular dissatisfaction with public officials who appear to pursue their own interests rather than those of the people they are supposed to serve has led many to advocate direct democracy, in which the people play a direct role in making policy (Cronin, 104).

In its purest form, direct democracy is a system of government in which citizens' vote directly on each law that affects them. One of the main mechanisms of direct democracy is the ballot initiative, also referred to as the 'citizen initiative”, through which individual citizens can propose legislation and submit it directly to the populace for a vote (LeDuc, 96). In some states, the people are also given the right to remove elected officials from office before their terms are completed through a process of recall. Initiatives refer to the process by which ordinary citizens can propose state laws or constitutional amendments and then place them on statewide ballots. If a majority of voters approves the proposal, it becomes law. Currently, 24 states have laws that permit ballot initiatives (LeDuc, 111).

Capitalism

Capitalism is a political, social and economic environment in which corporations and wealthy entities control the capital assets and economic system of the country (Ingham, 149). Generally, capitalism is considered an economic system in which private property plays a key role (Joseph, 228). On private property, capitalism requires that resources should be owned by companies and individuals. In this way, ...