Electoral College Vote example essay topic

664 words
How Democratic is the United States of America? Not very many people ask themselves this question because since they live in the United States they don't believe that they have to ask this to themselves. All of the United States citizens just assume that they have a very democratic nation only because that's what everybody says about this county. But in reality for those how have been educated about the real America. It just doesn't seem that democratic at all. I would first like to start off by asking this question "What exactly is a democratic country?" Democratic is defined in the American Heritage Dictionary as -Adjective 1. of, characterized by, or advocating democracy: democratic government; a democratic union.

2. Of or for the people in general; popular: a democratic movement; democratic art forms. 3. Believing in or practicing social equality: If this is true then how exactly is America of or for the people in general? If the people had the right to actually pick the president of the United States then maybe I would consider this a democratic county. But in reality the people have no say in who is president and who's not.

The United States of America has a presidential election every four years. When the election is going on every registered American over the age of eighteen has the right to vote for the president of their choice. So if our country is democratic, does that mean it's only democratic every four years when we have the right to vote since it's of or for the people? Maybe if the person whose vote towards there favorite president actually counted for something besides the "Popular vote" then it would be considered democratic every four years, but its worse then that. Even though every person has there right to vote for a president it doesn't actually mean that the "Popular vote" will win and get their president in office.

It always comes down to the Electoral College. The Electoral College is made up of representatives from each state that casts its vote for the territory that they are in. The representatives do not have to vote for what the people wanted. The people of that territory are actually trying to pressure there representative into voting for what the people want. Each state determines there number of Electoral College votes depending on the states size of population determined by the Census. Each state is also allowed to always have two because of the U.S. Senators.

For an example, Kentucky has six Representatives and two Senators: therefore Kentucky has eight electoral votes to help choose a President. There are 538 possible Electoral College votes in the United States. The winner will have at least half of that at a total of 270 Electoral College votes. But does it really matter if the candidates get the "Popular Vote"? The candidates could care less about getting the "Popular Vote" as long as they get the Electoral College vote. In the 2000 election Al Gore actually won the "Popular Vote" in the United States of America but thanks to George's daddy.

George W. Bush ended up winning due to the Electoral College votes which included a few favors from the U.S. Senators and Representatives. In conclusion, I would like to say that the United States of America is not that democratic at all. The United States of America is ran by the big business's that help support the candidates that run. The people who help out with there generous contributions (usually the ones with more money donated) always end up getting what they want. This is only the democratic part about the "voting" that I discussed. However there are still a lot of other ways that the United States is not democratic.