Models of Democracy
The founders of the American government advocated for a republican form of governance. In a republican government, the political authority is given to the government by the citizens. The citizens do not directly influence political decisions and policies. People elect representatives to voice out their interests. Pluralist model of democracy would be the best in maintaining the founder’s intention of a politically stable government run by the public. Pluralism ensures that a multitude of groups is in charge of the government ruling and not the people as a whole.
The founders argued that direct democracy would cause chaos in governance. In Participatory model, citizens have the power to directly make an impact on political decisions and have the authority to influence policies (Diamond, 2017). Elite model, on the other side, gives power to a particular group, either the well-educated or the wealthier ones to rule and make decisions. Therefore, the pluralist model is the only representative of democracy which aligns with what the founders wanted for the American government. Founders intended to give the citizens the power to get involved in governance but only through their elected representatives.
According to pluralists, direct democracy is not only unworkable but also not logical to be adopted. The ordinary person does not have the expertise needed to handle political issues (Hamilton, 2015). Also, it is unrealistic to have all the citizens come together at a specific time to decide about policies. The elite model only supports power to be given to a small group of people. The group includes people who are more privileged than the rest of the citizens. The privileged group thinks and acts different and entrusting political power solemnly to them would be unfair other citizens. Most citizens oppose pluralist democracy and argue that it is unfair for only a small group of a representative to decide on the interests of all the other citizens.
In conclusion, the founders opposed direct democracy and advocated governance through a representative. Founders decided after several considerations of the harms direct democracy would cause the government. Direct democracy is unrealistic, and pluralist democracy is the best since it advocates for the ruling of citizens through expertise of representatives.
References
Diamond, M. (2017). The federalist. In American Political Thought (pp. 125-144). Routledge.
Hamilton, M. R. (2015). Democracy and public service. In democracy and public administration (pp. 15-32). Routledge.
Saarinen, M. J. O. (2016). The BRUTUS automatic cryptanalytic framework. Journal of Cryptographic Engineering, 6(1), 75-82.