Today: Democracy in Action Emails, BR’s from last week, MIKVA 9/19/11 BR: (1)Write what you think “democracy” means. (2) Write an example of democracy in the U.S. Today: Democracy in Action Emails, BR’s from last week, MIKVA

What is democracy? Vocabulary Journal #3 Democracy: “A government that vests power in the people” “A government of the people, by the people, and for the people” “A government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives” “A political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them ….

Examples of democracy in the U.S. Voting..

Democracy in Action This course will stress the ways that democracy happens (taking action, like the examples you mentioned)

Do we matter? Even though most people say we’re a democracy (even though we’re actually a republic) and a democracy needs people to work, most people feel powerless, don’t pay attention, or don’t care about politics because they don’t think people matter. How can we be a democracy then? How democratic are we?

Change 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Young people can.. ..end wars. Student groups such as Students for a Democratic Society exerted pressure that helped bring an end to the Vietnam War. ..change school policies. Students lobbied and testified at the Chicago School Board and got the Board to require that sex education be taught in all Chicago Public Schools. ..change the way huge corporations do business Student groups across the country have gotten Taco Bell and McDonald’s closed on their campuses and in their neighborhoods to protest unfair wages they pay their farm workers (esp. tomato farmers)

Young people can.. ..fix mistakes of older people A group of Students brought attention to the 1964 murder of 3 civil rights workers. Their work led to a new trial in 2004 in which the ringleader of the murders was tried and found guilty of murder. ..What else?

Change? “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” -Barack Obama “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” -Mahatma Gandhi “If you feel you are powerless, then you are.” -Anonymous “None are more hopelessly enslaved then those who falsely believe they are free.” -Gothe

Homework: Tuesday Write a “perfect paragraph” #1 : Change #2 : Young people really can’t make a difference in the world today/Young people really can make a difference in the world today #3: #4: #5: