What Makes America Great? Diversity or Democracy? Both democracy and diversity have been crucial in creating a unified and prosperous American society. Through the arduous efforts of American residents, the country has been able to, arguably, be deemed great. Democracy is the foundation of government, and diversity is the foundation of people and their culture. Seeing that America is a country that has been predominantly focused on the individuality and unique characteristics of its people, diversity is more influential on other societies. This allows the country to be seen as an ideal community for other nations. Although America has also established a successful democracy, it is the widespread diversity that has been more influential in its aspect of greatness. In general, diversity and democracy, strengthen and strain relationships, respectively. People will marry outside of their race and spread diversity through their children. A same-sex couple will build a diverse family by adopting children of different colors and cultures. Women will continue joining the workforce and maintaining the same status and respect as men. While all these …show more content…
advancements are being made, there is one topic that many Americans struggle with agreeing upon, our democratic government. Ultimately, this causes a gradual regression in all the progress that our society has pushed to achieve. Likewise, diversity is more prominent in and through modern culture. Our town hosts an annual pride festival that I had attended and volunteered at, along with our school’s GSA club. Our club’s purpose is to provide unity for the students at our school. As I walked through the festival, which was held at the park, I came to realize that the community was similar in many aspects to our club; they were united. The festival held the same importance to them that the club held to me; they felt accepted. I observed people of different sexual and gender identities, races, and age groups enjoying the celebration together. This evoked the realization that our community is exceptional at praising diversity rather than democracy. Comparatively, diversity is the basis for maintaining a successful democracy.
If policies were passed that benefited only a limited group of citizens, the government would be flawed, because one group cannot represent another group (Mariani 8). Diversity is fixated on the unification of different cultures, while democracy is a form of government. There are many representatives in our government, owing to diversity, that have different voices and opinions, which are usually influenced and determined by their background and experiences. This molds democracy into a more efficient government system because those who do not have a voice are generally represented. The success of diversity has prevented biased decisions from being made in the government, which would be disastrous if diversity were to not be
included. Equally important, diversity has been integrated into our society further than democracy. A point often overlooked is that diversity means that there is acknowledgement and validity of a person’s individuality and distinctiveness. America is commonly referred to as a “melting pot”, which is an explicit parallelism of diversity. The idea of diversity accepts everyone regardless of their disparity. The successful implementation of this concept into our society has made us more open-minded, as people generally disregard and look past a person’s traits and ethics. In the final analysis, diversity has had a more successful impact on the potency of America. Ultimately, diversity has been integrated into our societal rules, which has strengthened the country. Given these points, American society would be disastrous without diversity, with collateral damage occurring to the functional structure of our public. Diversity is not only crucial to our democracy, but it’s important for shaping our culture and character. The diversification of our community will continue to be appreciated in years to come, while democracy continues to decline due to unstable public opinions.
Before that can be established, I think a definition of democracy should be stated so that it may be called upon later in this essay. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, democracy is stated as "the principle of social equality and respect for the individual within a community" .
America’s form of representative democracy came as a result of the transgressions Britain committed against their colonies. Several hundred years of salutary neglect served well for those living an ocean away from their motherland. Realizing the prosperity that colonies had obtained through a semi-free market society, the King of England and the parliament began enacting many taxes and acts. Taking away the colonies freedom was unsettling amongst the colonists and eventually led to a revolution. This revolution secured freedom from Britain as well as founded a new nation with the first ever constitution. Although the process to achieve democracy in America was a long, laborious road the freedom, prosperity and equality of opportunity shared by those amongst the states could not be denied.
Aristotle's democracy was a democracy that endorsed equality to its fullest. Instead of forcing the thoughts of everyone through one biased individual, it allowed every person to have a voice. America is not a democracy. It tries very hard to make the people of the world think it is, but it is not. It goes against much of what Aristotle spoke of with fervor. Not everyone has an equal opportunity, nor does everyone have a voice. In fact, equality continues to diminish despite steps taken to push it further. Most of America is a simple façade that can be stripped away with minor effort. It is a mere pretense of democracy that would die out if it were to attempt to become anything
This essay will discuss the intrinsic relationship between diversity conceptualization and social integration presenting a response against David Brooks’ essay entitled “People Like Us.” In order to do this I will discuss four crucial elements: the influences of different definitions of diversity in cultural unification, Brook’s ideas about social groups working together and social groups coexisting together, the importance of diversity, and the influence of diversity in social changes. I will examine why some people have the perception that our American society ignore or see as unworthy diversity. Thus, I will dispute Brook’s view stating that our society disregards diversity, and Americans just pretend that it is important to them.
The scenes in creation being intellectual, the put together of constitutional democracy was very empirical. The Constitutional Convention was convened to formulate the constitution. What had to be clear was that the only way to assure a functioning constitutional democracy was the public's discussion. In philadelphia the delegates compromised. The outcome was to integrate states with large populations and states with small populations with a bicameral legislative branch. Also compromises that guaranteed say from both slave owning states and non-slave states could be listened to. The Bill of Rights
Democracy stresses the equality of all individuals and insists that all men are created equal. Democracy does not persist on an equality of condition for all people or argue that all persons have a right to an equal share of worldly goods. Rather, its concept of equality insists that all are entitled to equality of opportunity and equality before the law. The democratic concept of equality holds that no person should be held back for any such arbitrary reasons as those based on race, color, religion, or gender. This concept of equality holds that each person must be free to develop himself or herself as fully as he or she can or cares to and that each person should be treated as the equal of all other persons by the law. We have come a great distance toward reaching the goal of equality for all in this country, but however close we are we are still at a considerable distance from a genuine universally recognized and respected equality for all. I will go into more details giving more information and making it clear to understand equality and civil rights for all and it affects everyone.
The United States is run by a democracy. There are many pieces to democracy that must be in good health in order for democracy to be effective and work. In this essay I will critique some of the most important parts of democracy in America and go deeper. I will first focus on the strengths of United States democracy and then I will dive into categories of democracy that I believe to not be thriving. I believe that the current conditions of United States democracy are becoming a hindrance to this nation, because the opinions and freedoms the public possess are being stripped away through poor media, education, and economy.
...religions of the citizens, the immigrant melting-pot nature of the country, and the market-driven economy in which an equality of opportunity and old fashioned American elbow grease is all one needs to succeed. America certainly is not a perfect democracy, in any sense of the word. However, the particular brand of democracy practiced in America has shown itself over a course of more than two hundred years to be both resilient and flexible. American democracy may not be perfect, but democratic it surely is.
In my opinion I believe Diversity means every individual should be treated and spoken to with respect they should not get discriminated due to their race or culture; everyone should be accepted regardless of who they are. This also means everyone should get the same medical care no individual should be treated differently because of their race
"United States can be seen as the first liberal democracy. The United States Constitution, adopted in 1788, provided for an elected government and protected civil rights and liberties. On the American frontier, democracy became a way of life, with widespread social, economic and political equality. The system gradually evolved, from Jeffersonian Democracy or the First Party System to Jacksonian Democracy or the Second Party System and later to the Third Party System. In Reconstruction after the Civil War (late 1860s) the newly freed slaves became citizens, and they were given the vote as well." (Web, 1)
An example of diversity being good is in the article “13 Pros and Cons of Conformity in Society”, which says “If everyone conformed to the rules of society there would be a lack of diversity,” which isn’t very surprising. When the author states this, they clearly mean exactly what the quote says. If everybody and everything was the same, then nothing would change or be different from what is already there. In addition to the previous sentence taken from the article, the author also wrote that “If everyone conformed to society-there would be no change,” which is a complete fact. Almost identical to the previous quote, the author is just stating that there wouldn’t be change, again. It’s very true because if everybody had the same mind set and same ideas, there wouldn’t be any cool or shocking things for people to do or see and it would kind of be like living in a black and white world with no colors. Overall, nonconformity is something that will always be needed in the world no matter what it’s for and not enough support
The U.S. Department of the Interior, describes the term "diversity" is used broadly to refer to many demographic variables, including, but not limited to, race, religion, color, gender, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, age, education, geographic origin, and skill characteristics. America's diversity has given this country its unique strength, resilience and richness. (doi.gov)
Diversity is a notion, when applied to the majority of circumstances, can create a positive conclusion. The trick to producing a positive outcome is often how the different aspects are brought together. Consider a classic dinner combination peas and carrots, the two colors look appealing and the two flavors comes together as one making a superb side dish. Now consider oil and water, these two substance are not often considered a good combination. Although, this is not always the case; olive oil and vinegar (which is water based) when mixed, come together into a delectable salad dressing. Diversity and inclusion should also apply to humans by bringing people together who are different it can creates a whole that is enhanced by the uniqueness of each individual.
Diversity can have a positive effect on a group because it helps you solve problems faster. Being different can benefit you to learning new things. If you are surrounded by different people you will know new ideas from them. To have a good group you need the people to be different. If they aren't diverse then it will take longer to solve the problem.
The foundation of the modern political system was laid in the times when the world was strangled in slavery. In those moments, enlightened minds in Greek came up with the new system that was there to remain for the next thousands of years. This system, now known as democracy, is a form of government in which supreme power is vested to the people themselves. People have the right to elect their leaders directly or indirectly through a scheme of representation usually involving periodically held free elections. A new democratic government is usually established after every 4-5 years, and it is trusted with the responsibility to cater to the needs of all the people irrespective of the fact that they voted for them or not. Although the minorities may not be very pleased with the idea of democracy, however, a democratic government is certainly the best because it establishes social equality among people, reduces the conflicts in the state to a minimum, gives the chance to vote repeatedly, and creates patriotism.