individual is elected to office the general public looses a good deal of its authority over that person’s actions. This abuse of the democratic system reaches as far up as the presidency. The president is supposed to be a servant to the people, exe

rcising their wishes and fulfilling their goals. This is not always the case. After examining the actions of some of the modern presidents it is evident that the president can be a hindrance to democracy as well as a supporter. One of the most blatant, yet rarely noticed by the public, abuses of the democratic system occurs during presidential campaigns. This is when presidential candidates make promises in their campaign, that when elected to office that abandon. The reason this is so important is because campaign promises are all the public has evaluate as to that person’s intentions. Presidential candidates are elected because of issues, so if they abandon these issues they were elected under false pretenses. There are two very clear examples of this from modern elections. The first example is from the presidential election of 1964, in which the incumbent was Lydon B. Johnson. In his campaign Johnson promised American voters “that American boys would not fight Asian boys in Vietnam.” (Hargrove 116) However, once elected Johnson escalated the war with Vietnam even though public sentiment was against such action (Hargrove 123). The second example of unfulfilled campaign promises occurred in a more recent presidential campaign, the 1992 presidential campaign of Bill Clinton. One of Clinton’s primary issues in this election was economic relief for the struggling middle class. Clinton proposed this relief come from a cut on the income tax rates on the middle class (Woodward 17). Another important issue during Clinton’s campaign was increasing investments, like education and infrastructure. Once elected this issue became an after thought for the Clinton administration (Reich 65). It is clear that such action undermines the control of the citizens and thus the very premise of democracy. Since the definition of democracy states that supreme power is vested in the people, then it is a violation of democracy when the president knowingly goes against the wishes of the American public. The president can not be expected to seek approval for every small thing he does while in office, but he can however respect public opinion when it quite obvious. An example of this is when Franklin D. Roosevelt started to aid Britain in

Some topics in this essay:
Reagan Hargrove, United States’, Asia Hargrove, Americans Roosevelt, Clinton Clinton’s, Reagan’s Iran-Contra, Roosevelt American, College Dictionary, Vietnam” Hargrove, Presidency Democracy, supreme power, supreme power vested, campaign promises, presidential candidates, course action, hundred days, tax reform, democratic system, power vested, vested people, elected office, power vested people,