“Elections are just a method that elites use to manipulate people into thinking that they are influencing policy. In fact, federal elections do not permit rank and file citizens to have any real impact on foreign or domestic policy.”
For quote… How often do ordinary Americans, or rank and file citizens, get to vote on public policy legislation? Pretty much never... So, directly, they do not influence policy at all. What about indirectly? We elect our leaders who vote on new legislation and reform old laws. But these elected representatives all too often attend to personal motives and beliefs rather than serving the rank and file citizens who elect them. Or another common scenario is that they become puppets of large and powerful interest groups when the interest groups give them very generous “gifts”. These interest groups tend to be narrowly focused. The most powerful ones are generally ran by the most affluent and politically motivated people, and consequently only represent their views. The recent political scandals in Congress are proof enough that many politicians are influenced more by those with money when making policy decisions than rank and file citizens. Duke Cunningham, a U.S. House Representative from 1991 to 2005, plead guilty to accepting at least $2.4 million in bribes while in office (“Duke Cunningham”). Bob Ney, a U.S. House Representative from 1995 to 2006, plead guilty to charges of conspiracy in the scandal surrounding lobbyist Jack Abramoff (“Bob Ney”). William J. Jefferson, a U.S. House Representative since 1991 is currently faces charges that he received bribes from iGate, a tech company, in return for helping the business (“William J. Jefferson”). Alan Mollohan, another U.S. House Representative, lied about his assets which somehow jumped from $562,000 in 2000 to at least $6.3 million in 2004. He was asked to step down in 2006 (“Alan Mollhan”). Corruption in our government goes way back in its history, these examples only demonstrate that it has not disappeared, if anything it has gotten worse. As far as foreign policy goes, the war in Iraq is a great example of how the government the president has ignored the will of the people who elected him, time and time again.
Against quote… Rank and file citizens can certainly influence policy to some degree through voting in elections. By researching candidates’ positions of specific issues they can fairly accurately predict how each candidate will act when in office. The problem is that people often fail to aptly research candidates before voting. Too many of us let media advertisements, often paid for by the candidates’ campaign funds or groups representing the candidates, form our opinions. However, even when voters make mistakes by electing officials that do not represent their views or elected officials betray the voters who elected him or her, retrospective voting can and often does “correct” these situations. The Democrats taking over the House and Senate, largely because of the president’s mishandling of the war in Iraq, is one way that elections can keep elected officials (e.g. the President) more aligned with public opinion, over time at least. Although it is taking a long Congress is trying to find get troops out of Iraq and end or limit our prolonged involvement. Sure, rank and file citizens don’t affect foreign and domestic policy as much as they should according to Democratic Theory, but saying that they do not have any real impact is certainly erroneous. The environment would most likely be much better off with John Kerry, Al Gore or Ralph Nader as President, the U.S. probably wouldn’t in Iraq, and terrorists and people all over the world probably wouldn’t hate the U.S. as much as they do but voters definitely could’ve anticipated this. So maybe we should stop placing the blame on the corrupt politicians and instead place the blame on the ignorant citizens who don’t know or don’t care what they’re doing when they cast their votes.
Works Cited:
Alan Mollohan. (2007, March 24). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved
00:36, March 30, 2007, from
Bob Ney. (2007, March 28). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 00:09,
March 30, 2007, from
Duke Cunningham. (2007, March 28). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved
23:49, March 29, 2007, from
William J. Jefferson. (2007, March 27). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved
00:24, March 30, 2007, from
Wise, David, and Milton C. Cummings Jr. Democracy Under Pressure. 10. Belmont:
Thomas Wadsworth, 2007.
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
