Introduction
Among the various forms of government, democracy provides citizens with the most political power, while autocracy and dictatorship provide the least power. Democracy or rule of the people is a system where some leaders offer themselves as candidates for election. The electorate, irrespective of race, ethnic origins, religion, etc., who are legally allowed to vote, exercise their franchise. The candidate with the maximum votes is declared as the winner. The tenure of the elected candidate is for four years in the US, after which the candidate and other aspirants may again contest the election. The elected candidates during the tenure need to take measures and steps that help the voters. They must not antagonize or alienate them, or else, they may not be re-elected. The disadvantage is that leaders in a bid to get elected make promises that they cannot keep, or they take up populist measures, harming the economy in the long run. Autocracy and dictatorship, on the other hand, sees power to govern vested in one person or a polity. The electorate does not have any power to overthrow the government, and the result is victimization, corruption, purges, etc. (Jones 23).
US voter split
The US elections have seen a sharp divide among voters based on their voting patterns and preferences. Groups such as dominant whites split their votes between the Republican candidate, Mr. Trump, and the Democratic candidate, Mrs. Clinton. Latinos, Muslims, and African-American groups appear to have voted for the latter. These voting patterns are alluded to the philosophy followed by the Republican party, which appears to be against racial minority groups, and is against illegal immigration. Democrats, on the other hand, have views that support these racial minorities, and they voted for them in the belief that if they were elected, their concerns would be addressed. It appears that President Trump had made promises to deport illegal immigrants, stop the immigration of Muslims, and he drafted government policies and rules against certain minority groups. The legal aspects of these rules are argued in various courts of law, with some honorable Judges, overturning the ban, and others allowing these policies to prevail. It appears that Mr. Trump is carrying out the promises he made to win the elections (Gómez 34).
While elections help in getting a candidate elected, voters have other means to influence political decisions. Some of these methods are lobbying for a cause, running campaigns, creating mass-street movements, forcing the elected candidate to come to town hall meetings and asking questions and urging them to accept people’s demands, and using the press to mount a campaign with participation in the social media. Several such instances were seen when women marched against President Trump. The selected candidate and the government view the popular uprising and mass protests and they are forced to accept demands from the protestors or to back away from an unpopular decision. In January 2018, millions of women in various US cities marched against the government. While they did not have any specific cause, the sight of thousands of women in ‘Pussy Hats’, or pink hats, shouting slogans, garnered millions of viewers. Many celebrity film stars also joined the movement, creating widespread interest and publicity (Mazzei et al.).
Conclusion
I have also participated in such campaigns to reduce pollution and to save the environment. Some commercial activity was planned in my city, which would poison lakes and the environment. We mounted a protest march, and the local council agreed to stop the development plan.
Works Cited
Gómez, Laura. Manifest destinies: The Making of the Mexican American Race. New York University Press, 2018.
Jones, Mark. “Presidential and Legislative Elections.” The Oxford Handbook of Electoral Systems, edited by Erik Herron, et al., Oxford University Press, 2018, pp. 134-157.
Mazzei et al. “Women’s March 2018: Protesters Take to the Streets for the Second Straight Year.” New York Times. 2018. Web.