The U.S. as an Elitist System

Welch et al. make clear that political parties make democracy possible and can at the same time prevent democracy from being as widespread as it might be. The situation is the same today as it was at the founding of the nation:

George Washington warned against the "baneful" effects of parties and described them as the people's worst enemies. More recently, a respected political scientist . . . argued that "political parties created democracy and that democracy was impossible without them." The public echoes these contradictory views (Welch et al. 141).

The fact is that political parties are like any other tool in a democracy--they can be used to advance democracy or to hold it back. In most cases in this country's history, from the beginning up to today, political parties, along with mass communications, voting, and interest groups, have been controlled and used, or abused, by the elites in power in the government and bu

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many more outlets for information means nothing in democratic terms if the people who run the outlets are all rich and powerful people whose main goal is to become more rich and powerful, which is precisely the case today. These media outlets are trying to get as many consumers (not voters) to read or watch their news. They do not want to alienate the people by offering provocative views, unless they are in the context of cynical, joking talkshows in which conservatives and liberals scream at one another and then laugh at the whole thing because the pundits are all rich and powerful and will remain so no matter who is elected or what policy is adopted. Therefore, the elites who own and run and staff the mass media are rarely concerned with presenting any but the most middle-of-the-road views, and even more rarely examine issues in depth. Part of this is because such in-depth analysis will lose voters, which leads us to the issues of voting behavior and public opinion. The fact that fewer and fewer people take part in elections is in large part because the people no longer believe in the system, unless it affects them in a direct way. They have correctly perceived that the political process is run by a bunch of rich, powerful, an
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George Washington, Debow Syer, , California California, et al, political parties, rich powerful, welch et al, public opinion, welch et, political process, mass media, miroff et al, Politics California, American Government, miroff et, CA West/Wadsworth, debow syer, Allyn Bacon, Houghton Mifflin, people political, lives weak poor, parties mass communications, people political process,
Approximate Word count = 1853
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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