Blast from the past....

When Kip brought up the speakers that came to class earlier this semester it reminded me of a blog I wanted to write but never got around to, so now I am. One idea brought up was that if you feel voting is the only way to express your democracy, then democracy does not matter. The logic behind this was that voting only occurs once every four years and, as Kip pointed out, the elected individual still may not please everyone. If all an individual does to contribute to democracy is vote and nothing else, it was argued, then democracy does not matter. In my opinion one does not have to go out and volunteer or join and organization to participate in democracy because we participate in our everyday lives. Although many democratic ideas have been challenged and America is not as powerful or successful as it once was, the democratic ideals it was based on still hold true. The bill of rights allows people to practive freedom of speech, press, the right to bear arms, and many other rights that protect us from being controlled by the government. In countries that do not have a democracy citizens are not rewarded the same rights and thus have different lifestyles and ways of thinking. Simply exercising our freedoms is practicing democracy and American citizens do this daily. Although corny it is a fact that because America has a democracy we are able to exercise these rights and I at least think at least one, if not more, of these rights is exercised on a daily basis. If voting was the only aspect of democracy that individuals consciously take part in and if they think that makes democracy then it still should matter, because along with their vote they are also living day to day lives exercising democracy.