Role of Legislators in the U.S.
This is an excerpt from the paper...
This research investigates the following question: Are legislators agents of the people, or are legislators representatives who determine their own policy positions? This question is addressed in this research within the context of what the role of legislators in the United States should be, as opposed to what that role is. In actual fact, legislators in the United States are representatives whose policy positions are not directly dependent upon the positions of their constituents. Although this system is embedded in the Constitution of the United States, valid questions have been posed related to both the capacity of such a system to represent the interests of all population groups and the equity of such a system in application. This research examines the issues underlying the concepts of legislators as agents and legislators as representatives, the realities of constituent representation under the existing American system, and potential changes that might lead to a more equitable system in the United States. Issues Underlying American Representative Democracy The history of political philosophy is the succession of ideas concerning the organization of humanity into collectives. Political philosophy is philosophical in character because it is concerned with values, as well as with description. The principal emphasis of political philosophers has been the definition of justice, together with the conceptualization methods for its
. . .
as and concepts. Generally, Madisonian political theory attempted to develop a compromise between "the power of majorities and the power of minorities, between the political equality of all adult citizens on the one side, and the desire to limit their sovereignty on the other." The central theme of American political theory holds that, if unrestrained by external checks, any given individual or group of individuals will tyrannize others.
Thus, the central goal of American political theory is the prevention of tyranny, which requires the effective use of the art of compromise in the conduct of the political process. Tyranny was defined by Madison by stating that "the accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, may be justly pronounced the very definition of tyranny." This principle implied that an absence of external checks within a political system would inevitably lead to the development of tyranny within the system. Therefore, a central feature of the American political system is a set of checks and balances. These checks and balances are intended to insure that no individual or group of individuals is able to deprive another in
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Madison Extend, Stoicism Greece, James Madison, Thomas Hobbes, Alexander Hamilton, Conversely Locke, Black Americans, Representative Democracy, System United, Plato Aristotle, political philosophy, political system, american political, elite pluralist model, pluralist model, elite pluralist, american political system, natural law, natural rights, political law, class model, political structure, natural law political, congressional black caucus, law political law,
Approximate Word count = 2908
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)
More Essays on Role of Legislators in the U.S.
|
Customer Service
to Over
32,000 Professionally Written Papers!!!
