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Elections today are not truly democratic but they have never been. Simply put, to win an election a candidate needs money and to get money he needs the support of special interests. The wealthy and powerful dictate the course of elections while the common man has little influence. It is true that in the end people can do what they want and vote for who they want but what they want and who they want to vote for is easily influenced. 527 groups bombard the media with advertisements that can quickly sway the undecided voter. Not only is funding and support needed to win elections but because of the massive amounts of legal documentation that accompanies the campaign money is needed simply to participate. In addition to financial support candidates need the support of one of the two major parties to win an election. In 2004 35% of registered voters were democrats and 28% were republicans. Because of this there is only 37% undecided voters so an independent would have to win almost all of these votes to win. It is commonly said that a third party candidate cannot win and in today’s elections this is unfortunately true. Without some earthshaking catastrophe to loosen people from their political alliances independent or third party candidate could not win. The individual truly has very little influence in elections and because of this alienation there are low voter turnouts. The most democratic governments benefit from a high rate of voluntary public participation so our low voter turnouts are the symptoms of much deeper problems in our government.

civil libertys (Kenneth Weissheimer)

The question of when protections outweigh our civil liberties is the central problem that all nations must confront. The public good must overrule individual freedoms at some point but when that should happen is widely debated. The bill of rights which contains the first ten amendments outlines the rights of the individual and so is key when protections and freedoms collide.
The Case of Texas Vs Johnson is a landmark case that deals with the freedoms promised in the first amendment. In this case an individual was fined $2000 dollars for burning an American flag in protest. The display may have been insulting to some people however the desecration of the flag was protected by the first amendment as a form of free expression and didn’t cause true harm. This is an important case for even though the US is not a ideal democracy in that the representation of the population in government is imperfect it is essential that the ideas of the people are not oppressed. A second important freedom expressed in the first amendment is the freedom of the press came into play in the landmark case of Near VS Minnesota. In this case a Governor stopped a paper from publishing a story that would have hurt his political aspirations. By stopping the paper the governor violated the first amendment (it is important to note that the story was true and therefore was not Libel).
Another important right at the core of American government is the right to due process that is given by the 5th and 6th amendments. In the case of Miranda Vs Arizona the defendant confessed to a crime without being made aware of his rights. Due to the rights given by the 5th amendment the confession could not be used because he was interrogated without notification of his rights. The right to due process also promises the right to a state funded attorney as promised by the 6th amendment. In the case of Gideon Vs Wainright Gideon was denied a attorney and so eventually had his case overturned.