The U.S. - a Legitimate Democracy? In any system which claims to be democratic, a question of itslegitimacy remains. A truly democratic political system has certaincharacteristics which prove its legitimacy with their existence. Oneessential characteristic of a legitimate democracy is that it allowspeople to freely make choices without government intervention. Anothernecessary characteristic which legitimates government is that every vote must count equally: one vote for every person. For this equality to occur, all people …showed first 75 words of 1307 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1307 total…energy and effort for the power and celebrity that comes with public office"(Dye, 58-59). The legitimacy of the United States government is limited, but in a system of government which was designed not to work, complete democracy is most likely impossible.---BibliographyDye, Thomas R. Who’s Running America? The Clinton Years. EnglewoodCliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1995.Lind, Michael. The Next American Nation: The New Nationalism and theFourth American Revolution. New York: The Free Press, 1995.