The Presidency and Democracy To evaluate the position of the president, the concept of democracy must first be Most Americans simply assume that the United States is a democracy. However, before such an assumption is made it is wise to understand the commondefinition of the word democracy. The Random House College Dictionary definesdemocracy as, Government by the people; a form of government in which the supremepower is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agentsunder a free electoral system. Does the United States fit this definition? Moreover, how does the role of the president affect the United States claim to democracy?From a broad perspective the United States does indeed fit the definition of ademocracy. The citizens of the United States continuously chose agents to representthem in government. Of the three branches of government that the United States has allthe members of two are chosen this way. However once a individual is elected to officethe general public looses a good deal of its authority over that persons actions. Thisabuse of the democratic system reaches as far up as the presidency. The president issupposed to be a servant to the people, exercising their wishes and fulfilling their goals. This is not always the case. After examining the actions of some of the modernpresidents it is evident that the president can be a hindrance to democracy as well as asupporter.One of the most blatant, yet rarely noticed by the public, abuses of the democraticsystem occurs during presidential campaigns. This is when presidential candidates makepromises in their campaign, that when elected to office that abandon. The reason this isso important is because campaign promises are all the public has evaluate as to thatpersons intentions. Presidential candidates are elected because of issues, so if theyabandon these issues they were elected under false pretenses. There are two very clearexam...
