Basic Elements of Democracy
POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY
Popular sovereignty is a
basic idea of democracy. Popular sovereignty means that the people are the
ultimate source of the authority of their government.
·
Popular sovereignty means that democratic government is BY THE PEOPLE AND FOR
THE PEOPLE—for the benefit of the people, not for the benefit of those who
govern in their name.
·
Government in a democracy is the SERVANT OF THE PEOPLE; it is not their master.
Therefore, those who govern are PUBLIC SERVANTS—they hold public office only to
serve the people, not to serve themselves.
- The PEOPLE are the
HIGHEST POLITICAL AUTHORITY in a democracy. The People are the ultimate
rulers.
- In a democracy,
political authority FLOWS FROM THE PEOPLE to the government—NOT FROM
GOVERNMENT to the People.
·
Popular sovereignty means that the government can only exercise authority if it
has been given permission to do so by the People. Therefore, popular
sovereignty
LIMITS THE POWERS OF
GOVERNMENT.
- In a democracy the
People delegate their authority to government ONLY FOR THE PURPOSES set forth
in their constitution.
- The People give to the
government ONLY AS MUCH AUTHORITY as is necessary to fulfill the purposes for
which government is established.
- The only legitimate
power that government has in a democracy comes from the CONSENT OF THE PEOPLE.
- It is an ABUSE OF POWER
for the government to claim more powers than the People have delegated to it.
- In a democracy the
People OWN THE GOVERNMENT. It is theirs and they have the right to change it
by lawful, constitutional methods if it does not perform to their
satisfaction.
What do YOU think?
- Why would someone
support the idea of popular sovereignty?
- Why would some one
oppose the idea of popular sovereignty?
- What position would you
take? Why?
|
