Modern democracy in the San Mateo County of California in the United States of America

practiced its system of indirect and direct democracy through election day, which was held
this year on November 5th, 2013. Election day held the first tuesday after the first monday
of November, and is a political polling day in which many elections are held throughout the
United States of America. Ballots that are held range from, but are not limited to, political
measures to be taken by the government, board members for different occupations, and
council members of the county. Indirect democracy is when citizens vote for a representative
in order to make decisions for them. This type of democracy is used in our political system
today because we, the citizens, vote for representatives for positions in boards, councils,
and government. An example of indirect democracy is the election for Board Members of the
Jefferson Elementary School District. People such as Joseph Waters, Rebecca Douglass, and
Marie Brizuela are representatives that citizens vote for in order for them to make decisions
on their behalf. Candidates for the board attempt to persuade the citizens to vote for them
by stating directly what they will help improve in the society if elected. Rebecca Douglass,
now a board member of the Jefferson Elementary School District, stated that one of her top
priorities if elected is to develop Improved educational outcomes for all students in the
District, of all ethnicities and backgrounds. Through indirect democracy, citizens who like
and agree with the ideas of a candidate running for an election will vote for them to
represent their own thoughts and ideas, which are similar to those of the representative, and
they rely on the representative to take action. Direct democracy is when citizens vote for
political laws and measures directly without the use of a representative to voice their
viewpoint for them. This type of democracy is prevalent in todays political system because
the citizens are able to directly vote for, for example, laws, measures, and propositions. An
example of direct democracy that occurred during election day was the School Bond
(Measure P) measure for the Foster City School District in San Mateo. This measure was to
improve local schools with funding that cannot be taken by the state, ...by issuing
$130,000,000 in bonds at legal rates, with citizen oversight, no money for administrators,
and all funds staying local. Through direct democracy, citizens had the right to vote yes
or no to approve or disapprove of this measure, and the option with the most votes
declares what actions will become of the measure. In this specific measure, 46.6% (6,556
votes) voted yes and 53.4% (7,500) voted no. As a result of direct democracy, a majority
of the citizens who voted voted no on this subject, so the issuing of this measure failed.
Direct democracy allows every citizen the right to vote for their viewpoint on certain laws
that will affect their society. This is our society today, in which both indirect and direct
democracy is used to determine political changes within our communities, as shown by this
years election day, November 5, 2013. The rise of democratic ideas throughout history led
to this type of modern democracy today, in which every citizen has natural rights and can
vote for representatives or directly on laws themselves.