Washington 1 Jamari Washington Velasquez Political Science 1/10/2021 CPA Chapter 1 1. The United States of America has a Democratic Republic form of government, also called a representative democracy. Leaders are selected based on their values and goals, then they serve terms to write the laws. We cannot be considered a pure democracy, as citizens themselves do not make laws. It is also not a true republic because citizens are often called upon to vote on matters at the state and local level. 2. Elitism is where a few people have control of the government and no one else really matters. Pluralism is a situation where a slightly larger number of groups have major influence on the country. The US has elements of both. The richest benefactors of pluralist sectors have immense control of the government through their ability to lobby Congress and bribe officials. Through this, laws are made that benefit no one besides the already rich and powerful. However, through honest officials changes can be made, and often are. This is the tradeoff perspective, and while I personally believe the government should always benefit the many rather than the few, others thinks differently and so democracy works as designed in this way. 3. I would consider myself averagely engaged in the government. I vote every chance I get and stay up to date on developments in the country. However, I have never made any real effort to participate in a public hearing or protest. There is definitely Last Name 2 more that I could be doing, but I have to place priority on my work and school leaving very little time for such engagement. I think it is the goal of many influential people that the average citizen not have the time to participate fully in government, and this creates similar situations in the lives of many citizens to mine. If this were not the case, the government could more fully work to the benefit of average citizens. People could still work hard as well as get very lucky and become one of the influential few, and from there begin working toward the goal of giving more direct power to the masses. The only issue here is that by the time this person has the power to make changes, their views often change and they become more politically selfish.
