The Gardens Of Democracy By Eric Liu And Nick Hanauer

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.

What is democracy, do we really understand the concept and the implications of the freedoms that our society enjoys. Democracy by definition is a “government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections”.(1) The United States democracy in current times can be a difficult situation to grasp, due to the fact that we are operating off of the Constitution written over 200 years ago, and individuals modern

struggle for democracy” (Greenberg 2014, pg. 287). Problems do remain at the polls and also

President James Garfield’s tragic death is brought to new life in the book The Destiny of the Republic. Author Candice Millard shows readers just how that very incident brought one nation together. This being in the middle of the Gilded Age, at times it looked like the nation had everything under its belt but in reality, people didn’t see the corrupt happenings at that time. Through poverty, war, a surprising turn in events, to downright failure in medicine, President Garfield’s life was a downward spiral and he wasn’t even aware. As much as Garfield was unaware of that, Americans at the time were unaware that they were slowly beginning to unite over the ignorance of both Doctor Bliss and Charles Guiteau. Millard didn’t just write a book of a detailed and historic biography, she wrote somewhat effortlessly of the personal yet challenging circumstances Garfield and his family were in and simply told a story.

When I was a little girl my family taught me that everyone should be treated with respect, and every single person in the world should have the right to be themselves. I grew up in a society where everyone was treated with respect. Also we had the freedom to be ourselves. However, my grandparents, and even my parents faced a different society, where people were treated with great injustice. Whenever they flew to the United States, and the policeman saw their passports, my grandparents and parents were treated completely different than American citizens. There are a lot of definitions for the word injustice, but for me this word means the lack of rights and respect between an individual and society. In the book of The Harvest of Empire by Juan Gonzalez, it illustrates two major Latin American groups that face social injustice. The Mexicans and Puerto Ricans fought and worked very hard to earn a name in America. Instead, there was a lot of discrimination in the Latino/ Latina communities. In spite of the discrimination they faced, Mexicans and Puerto Ricans had to create true inclusion in a place where they were treated unfairly.

There are many other topics that are being radically reshaped in our world today by our government, such as affirmative action, the economy, education, gun control, healthcare, homeland security, religion and government, and taxes. Moreover, it is very important that people open our eyes and get involved in state government because with a little bit of morality the world can see a brighter

In David Friedman’s book, “The Machinery of Freedom”, he argues for anarcho-capitalism, the theory that believes the state should be abolished because it is unnecessary and a free-market should be put into place. Usually, anarcho-capitalism is defended from one of two views, consequentialist or deontologist. Friedman takes the consequentialist side believing that it is actually more desirable for the market to provide law and protection than the state because it gives the people choice to choose what they believe and competition will promote improvement. Deontologists, however, believe that any initiation of force is immoral, so they would prefer a law banning the initiation of force rather than private protection agencies. Despite

In a democracy the Government’s role should be to act in the best interests of its’ people. However, in the United States, democracy was a term carelessly thrown around which created an illusion for the people that the power lies in their

When you are young and they ask you what do you want to be when you grow up? Many answered doctor, lawyer, police, and so on. But when it came for my turn to answer that question I didn 't know exactly what to say. None of those things interest me at all. I was always focus on school and getting good grades. My mother and father has always told me you have to do well in school in order to have a better future. Until this day they still tell me this. In harvest of empire by Juan Gonzalez it says “between 1961 and 1986 more than 400,00 people legally immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic and another 44,000 moved to My parents are from the Dominican Republic and they came to the United States in the late 80 's in order to have a better future. My father came into this country to play major league baseball, back in his hometown Consuelo, San Pedro de Macoris. He is known for his baseball skills and grew up with baseball player Sammy Sosa. Although I don’t much about my father, I could tell you he never made it into major league baseball. He wanted to make sure he was always there for his kids. I don’t see my father that often anymore as I used to when I was a kid. My mother came to this country at a young age to get a better education. Both of my parents have resided in the Bronx since they got here to the United States. I was born into a lower middle class family which later on in my life it became a lower class due to the circumstances I been through.

After reading through many articles about many different religious groups in “America’s Communal Utopias”, I have observed many different communities grow using both similar and different ways to find their own success. Two societies in particular, that struck me in their techniques to survive were, the Shakers and the Mormons. Both of these religious groups today are still successful. Both groups used methods of economics, gender roles, and their relationship to the outside world to find their own success in the religious community.

The phrase, “We the people”, holds a lot of meaning to American citizens. As the first three words of the United States Constitution, it signifies a core value intended to act as a unifying factor in America’s democratic society: popular sovereignty. This is the idea of a majority rules, or to put more simply, the one with the most votes wins. The U.S. system of government relies upon the fact that the American people are capable of coming together to make informed decisions about matters that will ultimately better the lives of everyone. Despite this, however, there are certain instances in which a minority group will impose on or have more influence than the majority group. This phenomenon occurs all the time in politics, as politicians tend to regard the predilections of small groups of citizens as opposed to the general populace.

In today’s culture, there are several controversies that drive the forefront of social gatherings, private debate, and especially political races. Whether you know it or not, if you assimilate into society in anyway, you probably have an opinion on some issues in today’s culture. Some major topics in today’s news are abortion, gay marriage, and the legalization of marijuana. These issues have increasingly divided us as a society, and have also infiltrated into our political affiliation. The two major parties, Democrats and Republicans, have never been able to see eye to eye on theses issues as they deeply involve moral and negative culture impact.

Democracy is founded on the concept of government controlled by the people. The people of the community are each responsible for the regulation they live under and are impacted by. Despite this role, the average person in a democratic nation is rarely politically educated, extremely convinced of their particular beliefs, often in disagreement with large segments of the society, and generally possessing irrational views. This trend can be explained in part by the ideas of rational ignorance and irrational ignorance.

I believe every human on this earth is aware of the fact that earth does not belong to the man, but man belongs to the earth. Yet there is still fights and wars that humans go through to claim this land as theirs. This book “Earth’s democracy” by Vandana Shiva explains all the human actions done against nature. This book is a great reminder for all those that consider earth as something they own and mistreat it. Shiva talks about the rise of capitalism and corporate globalization produced monopolies causing an extraordinary concentration of wealth and power. Shiva believes we live in a world where commerce and profit take priority over people and nature and those with means control the government. The earth economy is a living economy. It is based on sustainable, diverse, pluralistic systems that protect nature and people, are chosen by people, for the benefit of the common good. Earth democracy is a living democracy. It promotes the responsible use and conservation of natural resources through communal ownership. The three basic concepts define earth democracy, they are: living economies, living democracies and living cultures.

A garden that holds your secrets, that is a secret itself, holds a special spot in the book “The Secret Garden”. The garden is described as an overgrown hidden beauty that has not been seen for ten years. The woman who created the garden passed away because of an accident; in turn, her husband becomes bitter and wrathful. The door which led to the garden was locked and the key was buried while the orders were given for no one to enter the garden again. There’s more to the garden than just being hid away. The garden is a secret to some very important characters in this story, but why? Perhaps the overgrown secret may even have a secret of its own.