Rory Stewart Why Democracy Matters Summary

From the early 1840s to the present day, a democracy can be described as a flawed establishment which has been shaped by the power of wealth and control, complex social relations, and most importantly the people’s desire to live a fulfilling life. Throughout this time period the principles of democracy, such as equality, protection of the people’s interest, and promotion of human rights were shifting in order to increase the democracy efficiency. Therefore the continued importance of the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and Constitution remain significant since, in American today, democracy is a system that is continuously being shaped by the people within it.

Freedom is how we are living, it’s how we stand, and it’s how we are free to speak out. In my opinion freedom means the power to act, speak, live, and think as we want without any harm or limit from somebody. Everyday citizens are working and doing hard labor to try and keep America civilized. I highly respect people who work and make an effort to maintain our life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. America is Where everybody wants to go and is why people leave their hometown because of freedom. America is supposedly the land of the free. I feel though as if our nation is falling apart. As stated by John F. Kennedy, “America is filled with both crisis and opportunity.” This meaning you can make your “life experience” in America good or bad but there’s always hope. America can fall apart with terrorist attacks or events like 9/11 but these events is how we make allies and how the citizens of America work together as a team no matter your race, gender, experience, or status there is a job to be completed and that is the main reason how America gets stronger.

Throughout history freedom has had many different meanings and definitions; based on race, gender, and ethnicity. According to the dictionary freedom means the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint (“freedom” def. 1). Freedom may seem like something given to everyone however it was something workers had to fight for. Not everyone believed that workers’ rights needed to be changed, which led to a long battle between workers, employers and the government. To the working class people freedom meant making higher wages, having regulated hours, workable conditions and the right to free speech.

Freedom is defined as the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement. It is the power to determine action without restraint and the exemption from external control, interference, and regulation. Americans, these days, commonly regard their society as the freest and the best in the world. Their understanding of freedom has been shaped and based upon the founding fathers’ belief that all people are equal and that the role of the government is to protect each person’s basic “inalienable” rights. The United States Constitution’s Bill of Rights assures individual rights including freedom of speech, press, and religion. America has changed dramatically from the country our founding fathers discovered. Some could even argue that

No matter where one goes there will always be a set of rules that govern what behaviors are acceptable, and therefore create a certain society around that. Robert Dahl wrote the essay entitled “Why Democracy?” to explain the effects of government own its citizens. The Midshipman Regulations are no exception to influencing the society of the regiment. They create a society that closely mirrors the society Dahl envisions in his essay. The Midshipman Regulations intentionally create a certain kind of atmosphere that provides an outlet for moral responsibility, to develop as a person, but at the same time restricts numerous freedoms. Dahl’s idea of a democratic society closely follows what the Midshipmen Regulations are trying to create, but would

Despite its precepts of liberty and justice for all, America has a long history of preventing certain segments of the population from enjoying all of the liberties they are entitled to. While America has made several key advances since the days of the Founding Fathers, there is still progress to be made. Civil liberty issues of the past have not been fully resolved, as shown by racial separatism, unequal democratic participation, and interference with freedom of speech. As shown by racial separatism, civil liberty issues have not been resolved.

There are many ways to describe what freedom is; in fact Webster’s dictionary offers nine different explanations of what the word means. “A right or the power to engage in certain actions without control or interference,” is one of the most ubiquitous definitions. There are many ways to describe freedom and American history has portrayed it in very contradictory manners. In the late 1700’s, it was very obvious that America’s forefathers sought freedom as they based their revolution on the principal of emancipation but it was only a short while later that the freedoms of others within the country were being inhibited by slavery. Slavery inhibits civil liberties and in a land of equal

The definition of freedom according to the Dictionary.com definition number 17, is “the power to exercise choice and make decisions without constraint from within or without; autonomy; self-determination”. Freedom is the base of American society, it is something that is taken for granted, not every country has this luxury, others must demand freedom and fight for it. The people that don't have this luxury of freedom have to demand it then fight and struggle for it, it will never be just given, it is worth too much, it is being held back to benefit a higher power. In Martin Luther King Jr. “I Have a Dream Speech African Americans have some but very little freedom, they can act with free will to an extent, and they have to speak with extreme

People have many freedoms today but that wasn't always the case. In google there are 3 definitions of freedom one is the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint that probably is referencing slavery and freedom from a government. But the last definition is the most familiar the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved.That is the recent type of freedom we got rid of in the last hundred years we got rid of slavery in Dec. 6, 1865, the day the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. It didn't end on Jan. 1, 1863.

The U.S.A is widely perceived to be a nation of freedom by other countries but it seems very restrictive on some issues it has been battling since it was founded. America’s population needs to change many things before it can truly be name the “Land of the free”. The definition of freedom is flexible but it’s doubtful that discrimination and intolerance is in any of them.

Is America as free as it seems? In the past, the United States has been a repeat offender when it comes to eliminating freedom for specific groups of people. Two examples of this, African Americans and Japanese Americans had their similarities and differences, but were both treated terribly by white supremacists in the United States (Coddon)(Selwyn).

America is one word that brings the hope of freedom to many people around the world. Since the United States’ humble beginnings freedom has remained at the core of its ideologies and philosophies. People of all races, nations, and tongues have found refuge in America. The National Anthem proclaims, “…land of the free, and home of the brave” (Key, 1814). But has America been consistently a land of the free? Unfortunately freedom has not always reigned. There is a constant struggle to overcome fear and prejudice in order to provide a true land of freedom. In times of heightened tension, the masses of common people seek to find a scapegoat. Often, this scapegoat is a minority

Freedom is not a term with a simple definition or interpretation. While the basic understanding of freedom is for one to have certain rights and liberties as a citizen, the American notion and application of freedom have certainly changed since its very beginning as a nation. A crucial part of America’s history that challenged the idea of true “American freedom” for citizens was the Reconstruction Era. Although the Union troops were pulled out of the South and ended de jure segregation, the emergence of Jim Crow laws at the end of Reconstruction facilitated de facto segregation. Instead of completely achieving equal freedom, Reconstruction ultimately hindered African American’s freedom with the emergence of the black codes that resurfaced again

Freedom has a large range of meaning. The encyclopedia Britannica defines freedom as “the quality or state of being free, and the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action” (Britannica). In the American society there is a lot of emphasis on freedom, and the right to be free, but one must question to what extent we are truly “free”.

Democracy and its critics is a political science book written by Robert Dahl In 1989 and published by Yale University Press in America. The book looks at the assumptions of the democratic theory and is able to test them in relation to the questions raised by critics. Thereafter, Dahl suggests the ways in which the states must move towards improving their democracy.