Political equality has not been achieved because America is a capitalistic society where class is emphasized. There cannot be political equality if equality is not established. An example was African slaves who were declared as commodities. Africans were given a 3/5 vote while whites had a full vote. Women weren't even allowed to vote. Political liberty has not been achieved because citizen's rights are not always protected. Also, public authorities and private groups infringe on the liberty and rights of the minority. The democracy "yardstick" was at a low. An example of how democracy failed today in America was when George Bush won the 2000 election for President over Gore, despite the fact that Gore had more votes.
The experiences of Chinese immigrants in the 1800's demonstrate the struggle for democracy. In the mid-1800's, the Chinese migrated to America because of various push and pull factors. One of these factors was poverty in China, due to European imperialism. Great Britain saw China as a way to make money so they imported a great deal of opium in exchange for silver. Chinese consumers became rapidly addicted to this drug so China wanted to ban this trade. This resulted in the first Opium War from 1839-1842. The Chinese lost and the government was the forced to pay Britain 21 million silver dollars. A second opium war broke out in 1856, which pushed China into extreme poverty. Chinese farmers and peasants went into debt and lost their land, industrial workers lost their jobs, and merchants went out of business. The Chinese were pulled into Hawaii and California because they saw America as a land of opportunity, especially during the gold rush of 1848-1852. However, they faced discrimination and were used as a source of cheap labor. Many of the Chinese were paid poorly for their tough work on railroads and in factories. Also, racism was brought upon the Chinese as they were forced to live in ethnic enclaves such as Chinatown, since Americans did not want to live with them.