What makes America America? Obesity? Capitalism? Underqualified leaders? While all of these are aspects of America, our nation is distinguished by the fact that we're a democracy, or more specifically a democratic republic. Or are we?

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Since Donald Trump was elected and immediately signed about a dozen executive orders, I've been asking myself the same question: Is this what the people want? Afterall, democracy is the government of the people, and in an ideal world, our president would care about what we, as a nation, want. However, it seems as though many of the nation's decisions are being made by smaller and smaller groups of people. We saw net neutrality killed by the votes of five people, the construction of the Keystone Pipeline was approved with a simple signature from our president and the president's approval rating at an all-time low.

Trump's approval rating, according to Time magazine, ranged from 35% to 45%, at an average of 39%. This approval rating is the lowest of the past seven presidents in their respective first years of presidency and presents worries for America's citizens. After all, if America is a democracy, why should our president have an approval rating of only about 40%? If only 3 or 4 out of every 10 citizens approve of our leader in our democratic form of government, there is something very wrong.

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Many of the president's actions seem to be in favor of a small percentage of wealthy, white Americans. Just a few days ago, Trump's budget plan for 2019 was released, and to no surprise, it features deep cuts to welfare and Medicare. Additionally, the Trump administration aims to compromise DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program that protects approximately 800,000 undocumented immigrant youth from being deported.

Trump's goal of deporting children or young adults seeking a bright future is harmfully nationalist, especially when paired with Trump's loud touting of the phrase 'America first.' This phrase proudly spoken by Trump has anti-sematic origins and was used to protest America's entrance into World War II. This phrase, along with Trump's grand military parade he desires, gives off a nefarious image. Trump seems to be oblivious to the history of our nation and also seems to lack any self-awareness. As a child born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Trump is probably used to ignoring the needs and lives of those less wealthy than him.

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With the absence of the people's interest in Trump's government and the constant legislation passed in favor of rich, white Americans at the cost of lower-income and minority citizens, America seems to be slowly becoming an oligarchy, or a government ruled by a small group of people. While we still hold elections, our voters are being suppressed. While we still believe that the candidate who got the most votes will be in office, we're unsure of who received the popular vote. While we hope to have elections free of interference by other nations, the evidence of Russian tampering in 2016's election can not be ignored. Some peoples' votes are beginning matter more than others'.

Though this could have been expected, as we voted in a businessman with no political experience, we can not forget that our president has four years worth of time to desecrate a nation. As we move forward into a new year under the Trump administration, we can only hope that our government and our president will start heeding the word of the people. Or if all else fails, we can hope for impeachment.

Source links:

http://time.com/5103776/donald-trump-approval-rati...