While the United States constitutional system does not fully support the
democratic ideal, having a more legalistic focus designed in part to protect
government from excessive intrusions on the part of citizens, there has been a
strong informal commitment to the democratic ideal. As an abstract value, the
concept of citizen participation is unquestionably accepted as an unmitigated
good. Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address echoed the sentiment in
the well-known phrase “government of the people, by the people, for the
people.” Thus, there is a strong and explicit value placed on the role of the
citizen in American democratic ideology.