Summary
The book begins with the thought that the crisis in this world today is that everyone has the feeling of powerlessness and hopelessness. That is because of the democracy we have today. With the author’s definition of a living democracy, it empowers us to start in the creation of life serving institutions. Living democracy is about getting more people involved in problem solving. If the people closest to the problem can help and be problem solvers, then the solution would seem more reasonable and fitting. The author’s problem with thin democracy is that there are not enough people involved with the democracy of this nation. It makes you feel like you are nothing or like you don’t matter. That is where the feelings of hopelessness and powerlessness come in to play.
The book moves on to tell you why you may have these feelings of powerlessness and hopelessness. How can we as citizens of this country expect to have a well rounded, efficient working living democracy when the people running it are corrupt and do things that are total opposite of living democracy? The book uses the Bush Administration as an example. They have diluted the Clean Water Act so it now does not apply to sixty percent of the major water ways. They have refused to raise the minimum wage. They have cut the funding for police and program that help low income families. They have also cut fund that go to affordable housing, public schools, child care for low income families, and nutrition. This may seem like this thin democracy is all there is. That is not true, there are places and times where living democracy is the one that prevails and that is what gives us the hope and the will to carry on.
The book goes on to discuss the thinking of what makes a person really happy. People think that they can fill the voids in their lives with a brand new boat or car, however that is not true. This section talks about power and what that is. People think that power is having money and nice things, well today it is. This view on power is only separating us as a nation even more than we already are. Once a person’s basic needs are met, all they really need is healthy relationships with the people that they are close to.
The definition of power is the ability to influence the behaviors of others or to change the course of events. Power can be gained through hard work or power can be given to you In a book published in 1937, this problem couldn’t be more prevalent. This book is Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. The story tells of two migrant workers, who are incredibly close friends. They goes place to place looking for a job during The Great Depression era. They eventually find a ranch in Soledad, California. Where they will face characters and incidents that will decide the fate of their dream. Powerful people are not as powerful as they seem, but is given power due to societal hierarchy or physical traits.
What is power to a human? As time has gone by, there have been many forms of control and influence in the world. Many strive to achieve total rule over a society or group of individuals. Yet the question still presents itself to the average man. Why does man desire power so greatly even though there is visible trouble that follows? Shelley’s Frankenstein, Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron”, and Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, whether through the situation or the character themselves, depict the evils and hardships due to an imbalance and poor management of power.
the tragic state of American democracy. Spivey explains that the goal is to make the
Print Shea, Daniel M. Living Democracy. Boston: Pearson Learning Solutions, 2013. Print. Weglyn, Mich. :.
1. Janda, Kenneth. The Challenge of Democracy. Houghton Mifflin Co. Boston, MA. 1999. (Chapter 3 & 4).
Janda, Kenneth. Berry, Jeffrey. Goldman, Jerry (2008). The Challenge of Democracy (9th ed.). Boston; New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Janda, K., Berry, J., Golman, J., & Hula, K. (2009). The Challenge of Democracy: American
Reich, B. Robert. “How Capitalism Is Killing Democracy”. 15 Aug, 2007. 24 Apr, 2014. < https://bbhosted.cuny.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_50_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_977636_1%26url%3D>
We will try to debunk a few different perspectives that involve the democracy in the United States. There are many “precursors to modern democratic theory” (3) for example; we all know that the ideology of democracy is a rather an old relic. I would actually like to reference an example that Hudson commonly went over in the introduction of the book. Hudson refers to the Greeks and how they had a well-developed system of successful democratic communities, now the reasons why he brings this up is because we as a democratic society have chosen to emulate the Greek democratic system. Much like us until recent times women and slaves were not allowed to vote only affluent men (3). Hudson also believed that everyone had born natural rights and that all people should have the equal opportunity to be involved in democratic affairs whether it be local or national level. Not only did Hudson agree with this theory, but with many other liberal theorists and they all had two main
The Constitution gave our country a frame work in which we have built into a great nation. Their idea is that the purpose of our system, meaning our democracy, is to protect an individual’s liberty. William Hudson tries to convince us that there should be a connection between the government we have today and the government in other countries, Parliamentary System. In chapter 1 of the textbook, Democracy in Peril, starts off by giving the reader background knowledge of the found fathers, signers of the Declaration of Independence and the drafters of the Constitution, which reflect as “democracy models” or “protective democrats.” What the founding fathers did not want to happen is for there to be a corrupt government which ignored the rights
...religions of the citizens, the immigrant melting-pot nature of the country, and the market-driven economy in which an equality of opportunity and old fashioned American elbow grease is all one needs to succeed. America certainly is not a perfect democracy, in any sense of the word. However, the particular brand of democracy practiced in America has shown itself over a course of more than two hundred years to be both resilient and flexible. American democracy may not be perfect, but democratic it surely is.
In “Democracy” by E.B. White, White describes what Democracy is, and he uses metaphors throughout his response to show both the positive and negative characteristics of Democracy. White supports Democracy, because overall, Democracy emboldens equality among all in the sense that one person should not have a biased advantage over the other. Equality stimulates privacy, which then gives people a sense of significance. In addition, White stresses the idea that Democracy is very heavy on citizens: not only do the government officials have influence in the system, but citizens have a say in the system as well. This allows pompous people to not have too much egotism in themselves because Democracy opposes that. Despite the fact that White has pride in Democracy due to many positive aspects, White also metaphorically points out a few
When we hear of the word democracy we think of a system of government where the people are in control or have most of the power. Most system of government tend to use the democratic way of leadership today around the world because of how popular it became in America. There are many influences that lead to this change in democracy that helps to shape it in the way it is used today. many social movements and interest groups has influenced and impacted a positive change in this new and reformed way of leadership. I will further elaborate and discuss what has led to this new democracy in the U.S.
In making this argument this essay seeks to five things. Firstly, to define democracy within the contemporary context offering the key characteristics of a modern re...
In deciphering what constitutes the brilliance of democracy then, we find that it is not citizens’ ability to make informed decisions or an unflawed and subtly manipulated election process, but the unapparent way in which democracy persuades citizens – informed or not - and leaders – corrupt or not – toward working to build better, more prosperous societies.