The (mis) use of American Democracy

Abstract

The American democracy is based on the principle that government exists to protect the individuals’ rights. In return, the American citizens have to respect the Supreme Law of the country: the US Constitution. Moreover, The US Democracy relies on two main principles: First, the separation of powers between the judiciary, the legislative and the executive, and second, the system of checks and balances which establishes a harmony within the three-part national government. Thanks to this system, the Congress has the power to remove a government official from his office through the impeachment law. The Framers of the US Constitution gave to the Supreme Court the power to interpret the onstitutional laws. Then, other federal courts have been established by the Congress. In addition, each state has its own Supreme Court as well as Circuits Courts as a result of the adopted federalist system. Besides, in order to enforce the concept of this system, its founding fathers initiated the Electoral College system in Article II of the US Constitution. It is an indirect method of electing a president, i.e. the American citizens vote for the electors who then vote for the President. In fact, thanks to this method, US history witnessed a succession of elections shared between the two major political parties, and mostly gained by the Republicans. Indeed, since the emergence of those two major parties and during several years, there was a continual competition between those two factions which created a feeling of grudge. One of the main consequences of this bitter competition is President Clinton’s impeachment. Indeed, during the period between 1998 and 1999, US political history witnessed an event that was subject to great debates in Government and in the media. This event involved the most prominent US president William Jefferson Clinton because of his illegitimate relation with Monica Samille Lewinsky; a former White House intern. In fact, Clinton’s political opponents did everything to publicize this relationship with the precious help of the media. Therefore, there was a malicious political conspiracy aiming to get President Clinton impeached which led to the 1998 charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. However, Sixty-seven votes were needed to remove the president from office; hence, Clinton was finally acquitted by the senate on February 12, 1999. Finally, the case study of President Clinton’s impeachment shows that the impeachment law is an undeniable proof of the American democracy, but it was used as a political strategy by the right wing to eject him from power and resume control. There was definitely a crushing of supposed constitutional rights and protections. There was, undeniably, a misuse of the American democracy.