To What Extent is the Decline of Democracy in Urban America Real? An Assessment of Alternative Means to Democracy in a Small City.

In this paper I seek to test a possible explanation for the contradiction between those scholars who contend that the U.S. is a model democracy and those who have contended that democracy has been in decline in the U.S. for many decades. The former may be focusing on democracy as an end, while the latter may be focusing on democracy as a means. Thus, election turnout may decline and major civic organizations may have lost members, but new or rarely used mechanisms may have taken their place. By examining the use of alternative means in the city of Claremont, California, over a two-month period of intense political activity in early 2005, the posited explanation was not substantiated. Alternative means served as means for communicating the views of a small group of individuals and misinformation. Thus, the alternative explanation was not confirmed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]