Democracy And Athenian Democracy

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The term democracy comes from the Greek language and means "rule by the people"(Democracy Building 2012). The democracy in Athens represents the precursors of modern day democracies. Like our modern democracy, the Athenian democracy was created as a reaction to a concentration and abuse of power by the rulers. Philosophers defined the essential elements of democracy as a separation of powers, basic civil rights, human rights, religious liberty and separation of church and state. The most current definition of a democracy is defined as a “government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.”(Dictionary.com). The American democracy was greatly influenced by the Athenian democracy. The Founding Fathers of the American democracy borrowed ideas from the Athenian way of governing. Presently we as Americans live in a democracy that is much different than that the Athenian democracy, and what the Founding Fathers of the American Democracy envisioned. There are also some commonalities between Athens and what our Founding Fathers intended. . Laws of today’s democracy can be traced to the Athenian democracy and what our Founding Fathers originally envisioned. Some main differences and similarities between the modern American democracy the Athenian democracy and what the Founding Fathers envisioned are size of the democracies, the eligibility of a citizen to participate in the democracy and how a citizen participated.
Athens was known as a city/state. Athens was the size of city in modern America and it consisted of rural communities. There are varying estimates of the population of ancient At...

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...upon by the Framers depends on the answer to another question. Are the Americans today better informed and equipped to be wise and prudent democratic citizens than the American citizens in the late. No, todays American Citizens seem to be content. We are satisfied that our government has become socialized. Americans are all about what’s in it for me. We as a whole are failing the democratic system as we know it. We allow the same individuals to make decisions for our country that are not beneficial to the common person. The rich get richer in America. Politicians in the modern democracy have interest not in what is good of the common person but what is more beneficial to them. If we continue down this path our democracy will also one day be extinct. We need to get back to the roots of democracy and remember what the true meaning is. Power to the People!

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