What Democracy Needs Is Education

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Democracy is an idea that takes place in several countries all across the globe. According to Howard Zinn, countries such as the U.S. have survived as democracies because the citizens are educated and are not afraid to voice their thoughts on a variety of issues in the country. Contrary to his statements, there are numerous people that disagree with his statement and say that disobedience of the government is what destroys democracy. I disagree with what these people have to say though; what Howard Zinn discusses is completely true. Without people willing to speak out and disobey what the majority is saying, all the citizens of a country are following the leader. Also, the people that voice their opinions need to be educated because without being intelligent their opinions have no intellectual support. In order for a country to function as a democracy, the people living in that country need to stand up for their beliefs and also be educated in order to support their views.
People need to voice their opinions to have any kind of political power. By speaking about their views they provide others with a different point of view. Therefore others can form their own opinions. This lets democracy exist because for a democracy to work smoothly there has to be various viewpoints. With constantly only one viewpoint the country changes into a dictatorship. Also, those individuals who are not scared to tell others their opinions are an encouragement for the citizens who do not speak their opinions. They show that everyone is entitled to their beliefs and that they should not be afraid to speak about them to others. A great example of this is Edward Murrow during the McCarthy trials during the 1950’s. Even though numerous people throughout th...

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...inst Hitler but the majority of Germany stayed silent and followed his orders. Look where that got them. Also the reason Hitler became a dictator is because the citizens of Germany let him. They listened and carried out all his commands which made his power grow as a feared ruler.
Without well educated people willing to voice their thoughts, a country is not able to function as a democracy. Power in the people only exists if they are willing to show that they are not afraid to question the government and form opinions about certain topics. Without these leaders throughout the country sharing their intelligent opinions, the rest of the citizens would be playing follow the leader with the government taking away the democracy aspect. How different would the U.S. be if they did not have these fearless individuals speaking up as role models for the rest of the country?

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