A Better System of Government
The term "democracy" which means, ?rule by the people?, originated from the Greek city-states in the Fifth Century BC. It was designed to allow citizens to have a voice in the making of decisions that would affect everyone. Characterized as government of the people, by the people, for the people, it is illegitimate for a democratic government to serve other than public purposes, for any such activity necessarily serves private purposes. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle said that "The true forms of government ... are those in which the one, or the few, or the many govern, with a view to the common interest?" Democratic government is about public purposes wherein the government itself should be the servant of the people, rather than their master for the strength of real democracy depends on certain fundamental rights and freedoms. These rights and freedoms must be protected to make sure that a democracy will succeedIn a Constitutional Democracy the authority of the majority is limited by legal and institutional means so that the rights of individuals and minorities are respected. Most, but not all, democracies are based on a written constitution or a supreme law that serves to guide legislators and the laws they make. Writt
ConclusionGenerally, both the Parliamentary and Presidential System aims to cater the needs of the people and protect their rights. (Riggs, 1996:40) Party discipline, therefore, is considerably weaker than in a parliamentary system. The major drawback to this type of government is the threatening side of flexibility and power sharing. This can result to formation of governments that are in office for relatively short periods of time. Checks and balances limit the power of the branches of government. en constitutions serve as a guarantee to citizens that the government is required to act in a certain way and uphold certain rights. Presidential SystemIn a Presidential system, the President is the chief executive as well as the symbolic head of government. Since the executive may exercise some power over the legislature, and vice versa, the executive can veto legislation passed by the legislature while the legislature can limit the actions of the executive by cutting off funds for specific executive activities. Each system, though, has unique strengths and weaknesses; therefore it would be difficult to determine accurately which of the two systems of government would be most suitable for our Philippine setting. That is why continued cooperation between the executive and legislature is required for the government to survive and to be effective in carrying out its programs. (Kurian, 1998:60) Thus, in a parliamentary system, the constituency of the executive and legislature are the same. (Linz and Valenzuelo, 1996: 108) This can result to the weakening of a state?s legitimacy, which is needed in order to inspire the citizens to respect a country's laws and obey its public officials. Presidents normally can be removed from office before finishing their terms only for committing serious crimes. (Riggs, 1996:40) By doing so, it accommodates the demands of the electoral and party systems in a parliament system.
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