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//Athenian (Direct Democracy) vs. United States (Indirect Democracy) Theorize Works Cited Direct Democracy,// Athens is the present day capital of Greece. Ancient Athenian Democracy was one of the first democracies and was also the most influential, and important democracies of ancient times. This democracy was put into play in the year 500 B.C. Ancient Athenian Democracy was a Direct Democracy. A direct democracy is one in which the people as a whole make decisions, rather than have those decisions being made for them by elected representatives. That means that instead of electing representatives to voice the peoples opinions, every one who was allowed, voted, on all ballots that took place within their government. In Ancient Athens only wealthy landholding men over the age of 18 were allowed to vote. Women, children, foreigners, slaves, and the disabled were not allowed to vote. The Athenian system of law consisted of three political parties. Assembly, Council, and Courts. In the ancient Athens government everyone who fell under the standards listed above would attend a town meeting when there was a pressing issue at hand. Everyone who supported the issue would raise their hand when told to, and the same for the people who were against the issue. The vote was decided by a majority of hands raised in the meeting either for or against the issue and its solution. This system was developed by three Athenian residents named, Solon, Cleisthenes, and Ephialtes. Each of these three men were native Greeks and were landholding males. Which may be why the system was set up the way it was in which only men, similar to themselves were allowed the right to vote. The Athenian's way of a direct democracy has been carried on through the years and is known as one of the most influential democracies, and forms of government in all of time. United Sates of America, Present Day** The United States of America first expressed an interest in forming a democratic government in the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Today the U.S. uses a form of democracy known as indirect democracy or representative democracy. An indirect democracy is one in which, unlike ancient Athenian democracy, citizens of the U.S. elect a representative who will speak on the behalf of the citizens inside government votes and referendums. Instead of Having each eligible citizen vote, the representatives will cast their vote on the behalf of the citizens that they are representing. In the United States all legal citizens 18 years of age and above have the right to vote, excluding those who are mentally ill and all inmates. United States Democracy is an indirect democracy. Within that democracy there are three branches of government, the Executive branch, the Judicial branch, and the Legislative branch. The Executive Branch is made up of the President, the Vice-President, and advisors for the President. The president is the head of the executive branch. The Judicial Branch was established by the Congress. The judicial branch consisted entirely of the Supreme Court, it is the job of the supreme court to make decisions based on the constitution and whether or not it is needed withing a ruling to over rule the constitution. The Legislative Branch is in charge of creating laws. This branch consists of the House of Representatives, and the Senate.
 * History of Democracy**
 * Ancient Athens, Greece**
 * Indirect Democracy

What if the laws that were applied in ancient Athens, with a direct democracy, were applied to the present day United States. Imagine if all people who are of age and eligible to vote, voted in all of the present day elections. The total population of the United States is 281,421,906. 209,128,094 are over the age of 18. If all of those people voted our lives, today would be completely different. On issues ranging from gay rights to abortion to the war in Iraq. If every male voted whether or not to make abortion legal in all states maybe they would feel completely distanced from the issue because it does not affect the directly. And if every male voted in favor of making abortion legal, in all states than so many lives would be forever changed. Issues on the government level such as electing a new President, if every citizen was forced to vote maybe President Bush would not have been elected. If he was not elected maybe different actions would have been taken and we would not be at war right now. There are endless possibilities of the radical differences that would be seen if the United States had a direct democracy. Right now the current position that the U.S. is in, in terms of democracy is looking very good. People from all different backgrounds, women, and now even people who are U.S. citizens but do not speak English were grated the right to vote. The way that our democracy is run, is progressing in rapid ways, and who knows what would happen if our way of government was changed. That is one of the things that makes every country unique, is the way that their government is handled. Our government today has a strong feeling of equal rights for all people. If that was changed than how could we call it U.S. democracy. The key point here, is that as of today, as of right now, our democracy, our government has, and still is achieving equal rights for all citizens and maybe someday if we keep working hard at it, the equal rights democracy will go down in history as the first time that a country has achieved equal rights for all people, no matter where you come from or what you do you will have the right to control you future and the future for you children and their children, and we will have achieved a safe place to live where you have a say, where every voice counts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athenian_democracyNovember http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761575112/Democracy.html http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_1741500781United_States_Government.html http://www.census.gov/census2000/states/us.html http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/direct%20democracy http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/indirect%20democracy
 * Theorize:**
 * Works Cited**

Image 1: http://www.historiasiglo20.org/1ESO/Athens%20democracy2.jpg Image 2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solon Image 3: http://www.library.ucsb.edu/universe/orgchrt2.gif
 * Images Cited**