Lesson: Is America really a democracy?

Conversation

Answer the following questions. You might be asked to write them down or answer them out loud.

1. What type of political system does your country have? What do you think about it?
2. How long is the term of elected officials in your country? What do you think about it?
3. How are government officials chosen in your country? Do you think this method is fair?
4. Should voting be compulsory?
5. Is voting an important responsibility of a citizen?
6. How can we get more people to vote?
7. How could elections be more representative?
8. What do you think is the most important political issue right now? Why is it important?
9. How interested are you in politics?
10. How have your political views changed during your lifetime?

Vocabulary

Look at the vocabulary below. Take time to explore the links for their definitions in English and their translations to portuguese. When you are done, make a sentence with each word. Ask your teacher if you should write them down or say them out loud.

DT   season

DT   height

DT   anchor

DT   host

DT   producer

DT   ultimate

DT   for instance

DT   draft

DT   bill

DT   poll

DT   majority

DT   establish

DT   determine

DT   mob

DT   instead

DT   elect

DT   upright

DT   superseded

DT   officials

Video

Watch the following video but DON'T read the transcript yet.

After watching the video do this listening exercise.

Reading practice

Read the following transcript then do the associated reading comprehension exercise.

ExpandTranscript:

Political season is at its height right now and we're all glad to be Americans because we live in a democracy. Wait, is this really a democracy? BS: America is not a democracy.
- You see I was talking with this guy.
BS: My name is Ben Swann.
- He does a lot of journalism about our political system.
BS: and I am a reporter and anchor of WXIX TV in Cincinnati. I am also the host and producer of Reality Check.
- and I was trying to figure out what he meant, so we started talking about ancient Greece.
BS: Ancient Greece was a democracy, the people had the ultimate say. So, for instance, in the case of the health care law, instead of having law makers who would draft a bill, and vote on the bill, and then let the people know what the decision was, they would write a bill, a health care bill, and then all the people would go to the polls and the people would vote and if the majority of the people said "we like the health care law", it would become law. And if the majority of people said "we don’t like it", then it wouldn't become law. Everything would be based upon majority rules. But when the founders created our constitution and our bill of rights they established a form of government and they actually determined that a democracy was the worst form of government.
- Ah, the worst form of government?
BS: Many of the founders said that democracy was nothing more than mob rule and so they were against democracy and instead felt the correct form of government for this free nation was a republic.
- Ah yes a republic! ...to the republic for which it stands... So, what's a republic?
BS: Well a republic is a form of government, let me start that again, a republic is a form of government where the people will go to the polls to elect men and women who represent them, and then those elected leaders create and vote on laws. The people don't vote directly on laws that affect their life, rather it's lawmakers who are chosen among the people. And these are supposed to be the best, the smartest, the most ethical, the most moral, the most upright men and women in the society who represent the majority of society. And that's the form of government we have in the United States. The other thing that is important to understand as the distinction between democracy and a republic is that a democracy is the rule of man. Man ruling over each other, which our founders believed turns into mob rule. A republic is the rule of law, laws are formed and created as a bill of rights or a constitution and then those laws are never superseded by mob rule or superseded by elected officials. They are all under law. So republic is actually the rule of law.
- You heard it here, we are ruled by law in a republic. Let's go elect some officials then. Ben, thanks for talking.
BS: It was a pleasure.

Writing practice

Write a couple of paragraphs talking about democracy. Is it good or bad? Do you like it? How can we make our society more democratic? Make sure to use words you learned from the text and try to make it as long as you can.

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