Kid Politics

One thing that we've talked about in successfully creating a democracy is forming habits. De Tocqueville said that this is essential in creating a lasting democracy, and I completely agree. In America, democracy is habit. From a young age, we're taught that democracies make decisions whether its on the playground or in the classroom. This is crucial in America because at a very young age, residents learn how our government system works in a broad sense.

All of this talk of children and democracy in America reminded me of a great podcast I listened to a few weeks ago on the ride home during Interim break. This American Life has a great weekly podcast (for free!) on iTunes that tells interesting stories in a unique manner. One of the episodes I listened to was called "Kid Politics"-- you can read about and listen to that story here by clicking on Play Episode: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/424/kid-politics

There are stories of kids learning about how to make presidential decisions at different Presidential libraries and acting as a true government. Although teachers do these sort of field trips to celebrate occasions such as President's Day or Lincoln Memorial Day, I now see that the learning experience gained is a good reflection of the habit of democracy that still exists in our country today.

DIA

Recently, our class has been learning DeTocqueville's perspective on American Democracy. As Jake pointed out, yes, it does seem a bit like a love letter to America, but I think that the insight we've gained into America during that time period is very beneficial to our class and not all that much of an exaggeration. I enjoyed talking about Democracy being built from the "ground-up", as DeToqueville said in DIA, and I think that it is absolutely true. A country must start small and grow into a governmental change so huge as Democracy is. As it takes a seed to grow a flower, it takes people to form a government. In my mind, this means Ideas > People > Actions > Government > Change...

Overall, I think that reading DIA has helped me understand the complex process of forming a true Democracy in any country in the world whether it is taking place today, or over 200 years ago.

The man of the hour!

Democracy: A 25-word Definition

On Monday, we ended our class time by writing our own 25-word definition of the word Democracy. Since we have begun the 2nd semester of AmCon, our focus is once again on Democracy in America. This time, we work on a long-sentence structure.

My definition:
Democracy is the political idea of equality and equal representations throughout all peoples that promotes the freedoms of those peoples as individuals.