CHAPTER ONE

1.1 Democracy the first step to liberty

Nowhere is the word democracy mentioned in the Declaration of

Independence or the United States of America Constitution. How could that be?
Strange enough since the American Government could stand for perfect democracy
without doubt.
Lets form the beginning, how one of the most important Founders, James
Madison, actually says in his book Federalist: Injustice and confusion have a
truth have been the mortal disease under which the popular government everywhere
perished.
In the late of 18th century in United States of America a group of people
stopped listening to the European Monarchy rules and formed their own rules and
decisions, which soon started to lead to disorder and disruption. Yet a
democratically-based government was seen as superior to the monarchies of
Europe.
Democracies did not originate with the founding of the United States. The
term democracy comes from two Greek words: demos (the people) and kratia
(power or authority). Therefore, democracy is a form of government that gives
power to people.

1.2 The federal government - definition

The phrase federal government contains two key terms for the topic of the
present paper. As a consequence, it would be appropriate to define each of them for
a better understanding of this concept.
Like what the Cambridge Dictionary say that the federation is An
organization, comprised of a set of smaller organizations or companies, which
seeks to bring attention to issues that are of importance to its members. Each
organization that comprises the federation maintains control over its own
operations. For example, a group of small businesses in a related industry might
form a federation in order to lobby the government for laws favorable to small
businesses
On the other hand, The United States of America is also a federation. A
federation is a An organization, comprised of a set of smaller organizations or
companies, which seeks to bring attention to issues that are of importance to its
members. Each organization that comprises the federation maintains control over
its own operations.
The federations can be multiethnic or can cover a huge geographical space.
In order to be a federation the sovereign state should accept this idea and be as a
common agreement. The most known federations are: Germany, Brasilia, Malaysia,
The United States of America, Canada and Australia. The executive power of the
federation is a federal government
The subordinated states can make their own rules and decisions regarding
the security and power of those states without the implication of the federal
government. The federal government needs to ask the other states opinion to create
a new rule for the state.

For example, one such federal government is that of The United States of
America which have fifty states with their own local government and a central
government that is the leader of them and in the idea with the Constitution, it needs
to cooperate with the governor from the subordinate states to make decisions in
point of the security, foreign policy, or other problems can affect the state
Democracies are based on the rule of law. The ancient Greeks (particularly
Aristotle) valued natural law, the notion according to which human societies
should be governed by ethical principles found in nature.
The Greeks were famous for practicing direct democracy, a system in which
citizens met to discuss all policy, and then make decisions by majority rule.
However, only free males were considered to be citizens. So their democracy was
certainly limited. Today direct democracy is practiced in New England town
meetings, where all citizens of voting age meet to decide important political
decisions.
But how could direct democracy work in a large, diverse population spread
over a geographical distance? Generally, the answer has been that it can't. In its
place, the American Founders used indirect or representative democracy. In this
system, the representatives are chosen by the people to make decisions for them.
The representative body, then, becomes a manageable size for doing the business of
government.
The Founders preferred the term republic to democracy because it
described a system they generally preferred: the interests of the people were
represented by more knowledgeable or wealthier citizens who were responsible for
those that had elected them. Today, we tend to use the terms republic and
democracy interchangeably.
A

widespread

criticism

of

representative

democracy

is

that

the

representatives become the elites that seldom consult ordinary citizens, so, even
though they are elected, a truly representative government doesn't really exist.
Another modern version of democracy is called democratic centralism, a
term made famous by Vladimir Ulyinov Lenin. As the leader of the Russian
Revolution in 1917, he established a communist government that allowed no private
property to exist.

All members of society were theoretically equal. However, Lenin considered a

small vanguard of the revolution necessary to guide the people and establish
order. So, a small group of leaders make decisions in the name of the people, based
on their perceptions of what the people want and need.
Democracies have come in many shapes and sizes as reflected by the different
answers to questions of how, when, and to which people power is given. And
although it is not mentioned in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution,
democracy clearly links to the rule of law to form a basic principle that profoundly
shapes American government.

1.3 The history of the federal government in

The United States of America
The most known and oldest form of federation and a model for other
federations is The United States of America. The formation of the American
government is based on the American Constitution.
The federal government of United States of America has three branches: the
legistature branch, the judicial branch and the executive branch .
. Through a system of separation of powers and the system of "checks and balances,"
each of these branches has some authority to act on its own, some authority to regulate the other
two branches, and has some of its own authority, in turn, regulated by the other branches
The 1789 government of The United States of America made The United States become
the first unitary state with 50 states, the biggest in the world, and the first one in history with a
federal government, a huge example of powerful democracy and security for other countries.
Moreover, the government of The United States of America is based on
federalism, its power being equally imparted between the federal government and
the local government of the subordinated states.
Everything started in 1789 when the first Congress was formed and George
Washington became the president of The United States of America. This government
was called federal because it was formed according to the Constitution, especially
by the 13 states existing in that period, which accepted to give a part of their
independence to be subordinated in order to form a central authority and submit
themselves to it.