With the Primary Elections approaching, it is virtually
impossible for the public to bypass campaign strategies coming at us every
which way. For a year we all have the
“delight” of hearing all about candidates’ ethics and policies and agendas that
often feel empty and exaggerated. Yes,
the Electoral College is something we love to hate, but the idea of a
representative government—a democracy—was once an unconventional concept.
We have the Ancient Greeks to thank for republics and
democracies.
Their system, however, was
far from absolute virtue and decency.
Neither women nor social minorities had the
right to vote.
Only
non-slave male citizens were able to join the new democracy club. Today it’s easy to become discouraged by
political gridlock and partisanship, but the US really has come a long way
through equality.
It has been a lifelong dream to someday work within the
United Nations and help other countries acquire the basic rights of life that
come from democracy.
Like the Ancient Greeks, I too want to spread
the
demokratia (literally meaning
“people-power”) to all.
It's important for people to have worthy goals. The key factor in making a goal worthy is the purpose. It sounds like your inspiration comes from a love of all people, making your goal a worthy one.
ReplyDeleteI've never really looked at it that way, but I definitely believe that spreading the "demokratia" is a worthy cause.
ReplyDeleteIt's always been interesting to me that we based our political system off a good, but flawed idea. It's flawed in that the Greeks weren't perfect either, and they didn't allow women or slaves to vote. Sometimes imperfect ideas are all we have to work with.
ReplyDeleteI like that you highlighted how America's democracy has evolved from its Greek origins and will continue to evolve (and hopefully improve) as time goes on.
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