The idea of democracy in America can be very confusing to someone who is learning about democracy for the first time. In middle school history classes all around the United States, students are taught the basics, benefits, and disadvantages within the standard system of democracy. However, when it comes to democracy in America, there are many alterations of its system of democracy when compared to what is considered and taught as democracy. Some Americans consider the system of government to be more republic rather than democratic. According to the New York Times article, “Is There Too Much Democracy in America or Too Little?”, Michael Lind addresses the commonly discussed issue in America that our country’s current system of democracy is too weak and focused heavily on the federal government instead of the state and local governments.  When thinking of a regular, unaltered democratic society, we think of a system of government that evenly distributes power between the federal, state, and local government by giving each government certain responsibilities to oversee. Michael Lind discusses how as of late, the federal government has been receiving more and more power due to the attainment of responsibilities that formally belonged to both the local and state governments. This starts to create a “democratic deficit”, which causes an imbalance of power and a loss of the idea of democracy as a whole. Examples of this loss of distribution are the nationalization of the New Deal, the Supreme Court’s constitutionalization of reproductive rights, gay rights, and civil rights, and the recent addition of federal grants-in-aid which takes up a third of state government spending. It is very apparent that the American system of government is starting to slowly see an increase in centralization. Michael Lind and I both agree that there needs to be an increase in democracy. This can be done with aim towards decentralization by giving the states and local governments the power that they deserve. Without this, America will only see a loss in its current system of “democracy”.