HOW DEMOCRATIC IS AMERICA? BY HOWARD ZINN

I. ESSAY SETTING Written in Vietnam War. Civil Rights movement. Protests, riots, assassinations. What’s wrong with American society?

Shortly before his death in 2010 at age 87. Zinn during World War II. Howard Zinn

EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY Write two paragraphs answering this question: Who was Howard Zinn? to: Subj: Zinn, your name, per. #

II. STANDARD DEFINITION OF DEMOCRACY FOUR questions are commonly asked to determine if a country is a democracy:

II. STANDARD DEFINITION OF DEMOCRACY (CONT.) #1 Q: Who makes decisions? A: Elected officials in a representative system. (a.k.a., a Republic or an Indirect Democracy)

II. STANDARD DEFINITION OF DEMOCRACY (CONT.) #2 Q: Who can vote? A: All adult citizens. (a.k.a., Universal Suffrage)

II. STANDARD DEFINITION OF DEMOCRACY (CONT.) #3 Q: Are individual rights guaranteed? A: Yes. A Bill of Rights is backed up by government action. (First 10 Amendments to the Constitution.)

II. STANDARD DEFINITION OF DEMOCRACY (CONT.) #4 Q: Is there open competition for office? A: Yes. There are no arbitrary restrictions on who can run. (e.g., race, gender, religion, etc.)

II. STANDARD DEFINITION OF DEMOCRACY (CONT.) Zinn rejects using this standard definition for TWO reasons: 1) It doesn’t reveal nearly enough about a country.

II. STANDARD DEFINITION OF DEMOCRACY (CONT.) 2)Democracy is too complex to be a simple YES/NO question. YES NO

III. METHODS OF COMPARISON To find out HOW democratic America is, one might compare it to 3 things: 1) Other countries. BETTER THAN BAD GOOD

III. METHODS OF COMPARISON (CONT.) 2) Our own history. COMPLACENCY = DEATH OF PROGRESS

III. METHODS OF COMPARISON (CONT.) 3) Perfection; the ideal democracy. FLAWS!

IV. Zinn’s 10 criticisms 1) Representation is undemocratic. Decisions are made by a small group of ELITES who are out of touch with the masses.

IV. Zinn’s 10 criticisms 2) The public often does not have access to accurate and timely information that is vital to good decision-making.

IV. Zinn’s 10 criticisms 3) The draft (and war in general) unfairly discriminates against: young, men. poor, uneducated,

IV. Zinn’s 10 criticisms 4) Equality before the law does NOT exist. The legal system favors the rich, the white, celebrities and the conformist.

IV. Zinn’s 10 criticisms 5) Resources are not fairly distributed. The working poor do not have access to adequate: and 5) education.4) health care, 3) shelter,2) clothing, 1) food,

IV. Zinn’s 10 criticisms 6) Children of the wealthy have access to a good education and a chance to go on to college while poor kids often do not.

IV. Zinn’s 10 criticisms 7) Everyone has the freedom of expression, but only the wealthy and well-connected get HEARD.

IV. Zinn’s 10 criticisms 8) Freedom for individuality is often restricted. Marijuana is still illegal in many states, and you can still be fired if you are LGBT.

IV. Zinn’s 10 criticisms 9) The drive for corporate profit often results in unnecessary suffering and death.

IV. Zinn’s 10 criticisms 10) While protest is necessary to make change happen it is often suppressed by the government.