MB

=**Athenian and American Democracy**= //**by Mallory Brown**//

= **Athenian Democracy**= Athens established one of the first democracy and was a major model for most of the democracy that followed. None of those democracy have ever been as successful as the Athenian’s. This may be because in the Athenian democracy the people didn’t nominate representatives to vote for them. The people, themselves voted on everything. This is called direct democracy. In the history of Athen’s democracy it is felt that the strongest leader was Pericles (495-429 BC) Pericles had a major influence on Athenian society. In Athens only males over the age of 18, and had successfully completed their military training could vote. Athens population at the time was about 250,000 from that only about 30,000 of those people had the right to vote. There were also council and courts were citzens would come meet. hunreds or even thousands of citzens came to these asmebles. Any male over the age of 18 could attend assemblys. The Athenian's took assemblys like a reposiblity unlike some people in the U.S. The concil made descicions on things like what laws would Athens a better place. Those laws would then be passed on to assmebles and be voted on by a show of hands. There was no such thing as an absentee ballet in Athens. You could only vote if you came to asmebles. This rule even included the miliatary.

Pericles

=**United States Demcracy**= The United States democracy has used Athens as a role model in setting out there democracy. The U.S voting laws have greatly changed since they were first established. During the first part of the 20th century women and African Americans were not given the right to vote. Since that time African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and Asian Americans have all had to fight for their right to vote. Not all U.S states have the same voting laws, 14 states take away your right to vote in you have been incarcerated for life, and 32 states take away your right if you are out on parole. In addition if you are proven to be mentally ill or illiterate you do not have the right to vote. The U.S pracites indirect democracy unlike Athens. This means that the people ellect reprensitives to vote for them.

=**If Everyone Had to Vote**= In the 2004 election only 58% of people ages 18 to 24 register to vote while 79% of people 65 and older registered to vote. 65% of the voters were female while 62% were male. I think that most people who don’t vote, don’t think that they can make a difference. There in that mind set that one vote won’t make a difference and it true, one vote probably won’t make that big of a difference but if 2 million people don’t vote it makes a huge difference. In the united states their is an estimated 217.8 million people over the age of 18. If all those people had to vote under law, they might also take the might want to do some back round research on the candidates and the issues being voted on. Because it not enough just to vote. You need to be able to understand the what is going on and why. Favoring a candidate because he or she dress nicely is no reason to let him or her lead them lead the country. It also gives people the opportunity to see how much their vote actually matters. The people might also begging to understand the importance of voting.



Work Cited
http://billandkent.com/blog/2004/11/ 11/26/07 http://www.britannica.com 11/26/07 www.census.gov 11/25/07 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athenian_democracy 11/23/07 http://www.civilrights.org/issues/voting/care.html 11/26/07