America Political 010W Writing

Name: Sihua Lin

TA’s name: Zachary Larsen

Class: POSC 010W 001

Date: 1/28/2022

The factors that made the U.S. fail to achieve its country

I am relatively confident that the arguments I make and the evidence I find fit

together, but I am not sure if they are accurate. I have some concerns about whether

my in-depth thinking about my argument is consistent with what I want to say in the

evidence. And I also have concerns about the adequacy of the analysis after listing the

evidence, after combining my arguments and evidence to validate them. I feel that the

content of each of my paragraphs is relatively sparse and not close enough, they are

each paragraph separately looks and feels quite good, but when combined always

feels strange.

If a country wants to be prosperous and stable, then there must be a

government and a ruling party to manage and restrain the country and reach a

consensus on governance with the people living and active in this country to

consolidate the country’s development. The United States has been fulfilling this

concept since the War of Independence and since the founding of the country, and has

also developed steadily and rapidly into a superpower. Nowadays, the internal

contradictions in the United States are becoming more and more obvious, and the

proud concept of democracy is slightly crumbling and stubborn. The United States

has not yet achieved its country, or to some extent does not fulfill and realize the ideal.

While the United States has demonstrated a great power internationally and set an

example in every way, irreversible racial tensions and pernicious social attitudes have

emerged within the country.

Through these years of observation, I found that the presidential election with

democratic common consultation as the primary concept does not seem to be so

strong, or rather the people are the people and the electors are separated from each

other. In “How Democratic is the American Constitution?” Dahl also has questions

about this: “how many readers of these lines have ever participated in a referendum

that asked them whether they wished to continue to be governed under the existing

constitution? The answer, of course, is: none.”(Page 2). I know that the U.S.

Constitution is very intertwined and complex, which makes it difficult for a lot of

popular analysis and thoughtfulness to get into the process, but it has to at least show

us some sort of sign of review and presentation of the various critiques of the people,

right? And during this Covid 19, we and the world saw a more “remarkable” side of

the United States. And does this phenomenon confirm that there is some kind of hole

or missing part in the present century-old iteration of the Constitution? The answer is

yes.

Is there a problem with the electoral rigor of the country’s presidency that

leads to electoral irrationality? This means that as the election system has been

improved and added to over the course of history, the system that was relatively stable

at one point in time has become less solid and less reasonable. Or perhaps the

inclusion of various election conditions makes the election system too saturated and

cracks a hole, thus allowing those who wish to exploit it. The best expression of this

view is the Trump administration. In “How Democracies Die,” it claims that “And in

2016, for the first time in U.S. history, a man with no experience in public office, little

observable commitment to constitutional rights, and clear authoritarian tendencies

was elected president.”(page 2). A person with no prior military or government

service has been the president. This presents an essential problem in the election

process. I think it was the Covid 19 that indirectly affected the smooth

implementation of “the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any

question shall, at the Desire of one-fifth of those present, be entered on the

Journal.”(“The US Constitution” section 5) part of the constitution. This is like the

relationship between fans and stars, which star has more fans then the star will be able

to gain the right to speak. This is also extremely contrary to and impedes the idea of a

democratic state.

The United States is a multiracial country and its social components are very

diverse. This means that the interactions and intermingling of the various ethnic

groups will gradually form new social groups. It also creates all sorts of disorganized

small groups that can influence and intrude into larger groups. And this phenomenon,

of course, has a direct impact on the purity of the faction and these small groups will

be pulled in by the Republic. In “Federalist Paper no. 10,” James states “the greater

number of citizens and extent of territory which may be brought within the compass

of republican than of democratic government.”(Page 3). It seems that the Republic is

better at uniting small groups and using more combined minds and intelligence to

confront the enemy. This is also a kind of provocation and vigilance against

democracy. After all, the number of people is strong, and whoever has a large group

with the ability to think can take the initiative to grasp the overall situation.

The above-mentioned reasons are only the tip of the iceberg of American

society. After all, the American group and society are too complicated because of

immigration from many regions and countries. And this long-term accumulation of

factors is very difficult to control and integrate, which also requires the United States

to improve and spread the concept of democracy and accept some analysis and

criticism from more voters and audiences to reach a new consensus. In addition, I also

believe that with the mature constitution-making process of the United States, it is

possible to find a way to break the situation.