I think that the opportunities of a democracy definitely out weigh the challenges, but that is not to say that democracy is without them.
The opportunities that I see is that we are free. We are free to feel, say speak, and elect how we chose without prosecution from the government. We have the ability to chose who we want to run our city, state and country for the next 2, 4 or even 8 years. We also have the ability to impeach that elected person if the majority of the people find that this person is not doing the best for our country or acting unlawfully. This is a great power that most people all over the world do not have. We also have the ability to stay informed (for the most part). We have access to what our government is doing, and also what most of the world outside of us is doing. Many people around the world do not have this right. In many countries tv, internet, book, and religion is run and censored by their government.
Of course there are also challenges to a democracy, and in my opinion most of these challenges are fueled by money, just as most things are. There is a big division in parties, and though not always true, but most of the time the party division is also linked hand and hand with how much money you make and what ‘class’ you fall into. Not only are the parties divided, but candidates of both parties are influenced to do or support certain things depending on where they get their funding from and how the person or organization with the moneys agenda is. We also have a very big influence by corporations here in the US, which has nothing to do or for the general public. Money can even influence whose voted are being counted. It has been a stigma that people of with less money do not vote, but even if they do vote, how do we know that the vote is even counted. I was unaware of this until reading the chapter, but according to pg. 3 of our text "A congressional study found that minority and poor voters were three times more likely to have their votes voided in the 2000 presidential election than ballots cast by affluent white." According to the book this is because the districts where poor/minority voters vote there is budget issues and they cannot afford the newer more accurate voting equipment. This goes back to the Titanic metaphor also used in our text, more money equals more opportunity. And as much as I love that we have the right to vote, I think that the downfall of this is that we as a society in general are very uniformed when it comes to making a decision on what is actually best for us. I am also guilty of this. But often times I think we go with what our friends/families tell us, or see in the papers & TV, without doing our own research.
Nothing is perfect, and I would rather be here in the land of the free with a flawed democracy than anywhere else, especially a counrty that is not a democracy.
