Review Essay

The Irony of Democracy is a book that explores the American government in a light that not many people see it in. In this book, Thomas Dye sights many examples while proving the point that our government is not one that is run by the people. Dye states that the United States of America is a nation that is run by a handful of “elite” individuals. These people generally gain power not by influencing the masses with popular ideas, but by using their money. This is evident even in the earliest years of the country in that the founders were upper-class, white males. They did not represent the majority of people in the new country. Dye also makes the point that every branch of our government is controlled by the elite. He is especially skeptical of the judicial branch because the nine judges are not elected, yet they have the power to overrule the elected officials of congress and the house. I see these issues in the same way that Dye sees them and I agree with most of his points.
One aspect of The Irony of Democracy that jumped out to me was the miniscule about of power that each individual citizen has. Dye covers this in great detail in chapter one. Even with just a small amount of research, one can find that the framers were highly skeptical of a direct democracy. Madison states in Federalist 10, “it may be concluded that a pure democracy… can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction” (Madison, Fed #10). Madison saw factions as a great threat to the existence of a stable government so it can be assumed that he was against a pure democracy. The reality of this situation is that without a true democracy, the individual citizen has no power.
Another section of the book that I felt strongly about was when Dye discusses what having political parties does. The truth is that political parties don’t help anything. One reason that parties are ineffective is because there truly aren’t many differences between the two major parties in the USA. All the differences come in small, abstract matters of opinion that truly have no effect on the majority of the population’s lives. This is bad because it causes people to vote for a candidate based on small things such as gay marriage and not bases on how he would handle foreign affairs and the military. Also, parties are ironic because there is still an internal system in each party that directly reflects that of our country as a whole. There are elites ruling masses even within parties. In 2004, there were 62,040,610 votes cast for George Bush. Logically, most of these votes were cast by republicans. Honestly, will Bush hear the voice of one common man out of 62,040,610? There is no power in the individual.
One of the most powerful ideas in The Irony of Democracy was the thought that the judicial branch is run by elites. This is a true statement because all of the Supreme Court judges are appointed. In order to be appointed, you must have some ties to the President. Knowing that George Bush isn’t friends with too many poor people, a conclusion can be drawn that only the upper-class and well educated can become Supreme Court judges. Perhaps the most disturbing thing is that non-elected judges can strike down bills that are made by officials that are elected by the masses.
In conclusion, The Irony of Democracy makes many good points about why the government is not truly one by the people and for the people. The combination of the framers not wanting a direct democracy, parties that try to group a mass of people into one belief system, and an elitist judicial branch leave the individual citizen without a voice. Dye’s book is an eye opener than show the true inner workings of American politics.

Sources:
"United States Presidential Election: 2004." Wikipedia.Org. 20 Feb. 2007 .

Madison, James. "The Federalist No. 10." www.constitution.org. 21 Feb. 2007 .