Democracy and Civil Disobedience in the United States

Democracy and Civil Disobedience in the United States

Civil disobedience is the professed, active refusal to observe certain commands, demands, and laws of the either the government or any other international power. Forms of exercising civil disobedience are often nonviolent or passive means. One of the notable incidences that civil obedience was witnessed is when the United States’ reputable figure Mahatma Gandhi organized a defiant march to protest against the British government’s rule in United States that saw the monopolization of salt (Thoreau 1). Thoreau's Civil Disobedience ideas regarding civil disobedience insist on the need for the prioritization of humanity over the dictates of the government and the law. In particular, Thoreau criticizes the American policies, social institutions, the Mexican versus American war, and slavery (Thoreau 1). It is worth noting that the main purpose of civil disobedience is to influence different government policies and legislation by employing nonviolent mechanisms such nonpayment of taxes, picketing, and boycotting, among other practices.

Henry Thoreau put it forth so succinctly that the American Civil Rights movement that was formed by Americans 1960s is a notable example of a course that employed civil disobedience (Thoreau 1). Through this, Thoreau becomes an icon to be remembered for his art in protesting. Through the acts of people like Gandhi, we openly see the true definition of being a triumphant civil disobedience activist. However, Banksy’s importance in civil disobedience has been robustly disputed; since he does very little in trying to become an activist through street artistry. Such prosecuted treatment gave a footstool for the rise of graffiti artists like Banksy whose desire was to see to it that the commoners attain salvation from the government’s mistreatment. The only thing he lacks is an unwavering conscience to sustain him through the robust phase of civil disobedience. Despite being pessimistic about the whole idea, Banksy’s works can be seen throughout walls where he criticizes government actions in both images and text. For some substantial time to come, Banksy’s works are expected to rival political overtones across the nation.

As an underground artist, Banksy is renown globally for his protesting arts which he utilizes less effectively in changing a state he considers to be a contentious social climate. The art he projects on walls across numerous streets can only amuse masses in the form of social awareness with no other tangible benefits being felt. Due to his ironic fame, the ethical messages that are left anonymously become overshadowed and this affects his support over particular potency within the nation. So far, Banksy has done very little to try and alter the state of things; he only projects the obvious in his art. He ought to emulate the likes of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. in their struggle of championing civil disobedience in acts if triumphant activism.

In recent years, civil disobedience against the republican candidate in Kansas capitol, Brownback has been one of the longest acts of civil disobedience. His agenda sought to spend on education and social services, privatization of the entire Medicaid system, abolition of art funding, scrapping teachers unions, a move that was expected to engender significant draconian cuts and torpedo the entire budget. These move evokes the question regarding the state of democracy in the United States with regard to campaign promises and other agendas that have often been employed by politicians. The purpose of this paper is to explore United States’ democracy in the United States and civil obedience.

Discussion

The state of democracy in the United States

Even as the United States celebrates the achievements in the separation of powers to exercise checks and balances, this system has created allowance for some powerful groups to influence the government; hence, safeguarding their interests. Here, the participation of interest groups has been dominant. Interest groups are the organization of people having policy goals and work in the political process in promoting such goal. Examples of such groups are powerful financial institutions and individualistic groups such as N.K.A and the A.A.R.P (Curray 2). The interest groups work in lobbying the government by hiring representatives that advocate on behalf of the interest of the groups. Whereas the interest groups were traditionally considered pivotal in separating powers, this does not hold any longer. Interest groups now influence policies in leadership, in many ways, especially ensuring that their self-vested interests are achieved at the expense of the powerless majority (Curray 2).

The House has been considered as a mere approver to the regulations by the executives, instead of exercising checks and balances. A Substantial amount of power has been delegated to the executive. Indeed, the eventuality has been the creation of the unlimited prerogatives that are exercised in the name of people when the real situation is that most decisions are made to protect the self-vested interests of those in power. Yet, even as United States celebrates achievements in democracy, it is still undisputable that the president continues to wield a lot executive powers. In particular, this has been depicted by Obama administration (Curray 3).   For instance, Obama has often been argued to interrupt the white house meeting by introducing an issues that have never been on the agenda, citing that the administration required the aggressive utilization of executive powers to overcome the opponents (Curray 4).

The president has been criticized for striving to implement decisions without the approval from the congress. Some of the policies that Obama has adopted include creation of jobs for the veterans, preventing the shortage of drugs, raising the standards of fuel economy and preventing domestic violence. Obama has often emphasized that he bypasses the law makers, asserting that he would continue implementations by himself even when the congress declines to approve. Obama has stated that executive actions would limit the possibilities for his election for the second term. One of the decisions that elicited sharp reaction was to use his recess appointment powers to install officials that had been objected by the congress (Curray 5). Obama has been widely criticized over his approaches of concentrating many powers in his presidential office. Others have contended that the move by Obama to exercise presidential powers in passing decision is not new in history. It had been used by his predecessors on various occasions, yet it is legally bound by the constitution. Regardless of these, such a situation negates the reason for democracy.

Crown it all, United States law and its foreign policies have found itself in conflict with the international law. For instance, in 2003, in the in the invasion of Iraq, United States was labeled as a country that was above the international law. The question is whether democracy has to do with the violation for the international law. The answer is simple, a desirable democracy is that which is bound by the external and internal laws, creating allowance of the perpetuation of power not only within its boundaries, but also across within the global contexts, and that includes leading by example.

In conclusion, the American exceptionalism thesis, as far as democracy is concerned, is disapproved. Occupy Wall Street reveals that the US and the countries it criticizes for lagging in democracy, such as protest prone Egypt and Syria are not any different. Secondly, even as the United States celebrates the achievements in the separation of powers to exercise checks and balances, this system has created allowance for some powerful groups to influence the government to safeguard self-vested interests at the expense of the powerless majority. House of Representatives no long exercises the separation-of-power responsibility because it often supports the executive. Even worse, the president wields a lot power in the executive processes. Lastly, what is the position of liberal, democratic America if its foreign policies do not reflect democracy? Undoubtedly, it is a fading democracy (Curray 7).

Factors Contributing to Civil Disobedience

Several authors have supported this finding. For instance, the United States’ elections are always never fair. They are marred with incidences of political corruption involving suppression of civil right activists to support and protect the interest of the government and other elite members in government. The author notes that elections have been unable to address issues of civil disobedience through elections as powerful politicians would recruit a few individuals to bribe voters to lure them to support them. The operations are always networked operations that involve the use of the police officers (Ross 12).

The elite groups successfully achieve their political goals by muting the opponents. Ideally, this group of people owns the media and it is able to gate-keep, and censor the voices of the opponents so that the audience does not hear them. In doing so, they are able to use the same media to their advantage by popularizing their ambitions to the public (Ross 12). The manifestos the parties provide rarely represents the will of the people — instead, it results from concessions of the elite groups in United States and beyond the borders, the special interest groups. Therefore, by virtue of this position, they are able to influence the developments in governance by using their resource and influence (Ross 12).

The account of limited mentality is borne on lack of awareness on political participation. It also happens that the powerful employee different tactics to whitewash the voters to support them in protecting their vested interested. The powerful elite groups who have access to resources are able to manipulate the media and spread negative propaganda against certain, less powerful politicians, rendering them less popular (Ross 12).

Conclusion

In conclusion, this research paper sought to inquire why it is still difficult to get rid of the caste system in democratic republics such as United States. Many elections, however transparent, have often served to fortify and serve the interests of a few, powerful classes of people — at the expense of the majority. While the literature relevant to the subject existed, it did not adequately answer the subject question. Nevertheless, it brought into light various themes that are crucial in extending the discussions and helping conceptualize the challenge of democratic systems. The relevant literature notably touched on the areas such as the nature democracy and challenges, and the accounts of the challenge. In the end, literature presented some significant theoretical and empirical discussions that happen to be critical in unearthing the gap in knowledge and providing a foundation to approach the subject.

Works Cited

Thoreau David, Civil Disobedience. 2017. Retrieved on December 1, 2017 from http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/civildisobedience/section2.rhtml

Curray, Marin. How Can Power Be Limited By The Constitution? 2012. Web. December 1, 2017. <http:// www.ourcivilisation.com/cooray/btof/chap174.htm>

Ross, Dorothy. The Origin of American Social Sciences and Exceptionalism. Cambridge University Press. 1991. Print.