A 2014 study by Princeton University professor Martin Gilens and Northwestern University professor Benjamin Page shows America is dominated by a rich and powerful elite. The professors, who came to their conclusion by reviewing answers to nearly 2,000 survey questions, found the wealthy few motivate policy, while the average American has little power.
The professors concluded that while Americans enjoy many features central to democratic governance, the country has shifted toward a more oligarchic approach to policymaking.
Though most Americans agree our government should not be an oligarchy, we are straying further away from an authentic, representative democracy. It is hard for the everyday citizen to control those in power, but we deviate more from our democratic goals when we idolize our former or current presidents.
Most people have a favorite president, but no matter the leader you admire, your favorite was probably nowhere near the freedom fighter you wanted him to be. It is okay to like one president more than the rest, but no one leader can fully live up to our country’s expectations.
Democrats and Republicans are equally guilty when it comes to romanticizing certain presidents’ work, and both sides often ignore the vices of their party’s icons. From our founding fathers to the former leaders who are still alive today, they all have done things any average person would consider irredeemable.
Liberals usually support presidents like Franklin D. Roosevelt for the New Deal, John F. Kennedy for his support of the Civil Rights Act or Barack Obama for the Affordable Care Act. However, it is those same presidents who imprisoned Japanese Americans in internment camps, helped escalate the Vietnam War and oversaw hundreds of drone strikes.
Conservatives generally support presidents like Thomas Jefferson for his support of limited government, Abraham Lincoln for his Emancipation Proclamation or Ronald Reagan for his expansion of the military. Nevertheless, it’s those same presidents who owned slaves, supported shipping slaves back to Africa and tripled the Gross Federal Debt.
Today, Republicans and Democrats frequently fight over which party is the true supporter of the people. Those on the right say they are for the people because they support small business and small government, but those on the left argue their side supports the people because they stand up for the poor and the oppressed.
However, the truth is that no president is perfect because there is no such thing as a perfect leader, especially in a country like America. This country is about the people, not the president, and no leader will ever live up to our country’s impossible standards because we will always have an intrinsic need to strive to be better.
America will always be about more than just the person who has the most powerful position in the world. No president is perfect, and America isn’t perfect either, but we can only hope to become as great as the people at the foundation of our country.
Lynne Bunch is an 18-year-old mass communication freshman from Terrytown, Louisiana.