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=__DEMOCRACY__= Developed in the Greek city state, Athens, around 500 BC. //Ancient Greek - dēmokratia, from dēmos ‘the people’ and -kratia ‘power, rule.’//

Athens had one of the first known democracies. Which is now referred to as direct democracy meaning that instead of electing representatives to vote on the citizens behalf, the citizens would actually vote personally during every poll. The original direct democracy in Athens worked in the way that all entitled citizens would come to a town meeting, vote by a show of hands and the majority would win the vote. This system was primarily developed by Solon, Cleisthenes, and Ephialtes. Each of these ancient Athenian residents were native Greek, landholding males. Interestingly enough all citizens involved in the governing of Ancient Athens fell under these interestingly familiar standards. Only men who were over 18 years if age and had completed their military training were eligible to vote, and all permitted residents were required to take part in the referendum, or election at hand. (wiki) Some believe that the ancient Athenian democracy is more sensitive, tactful and prudent than that of the contemporary United States way of governing. They believe that giving “the people” direct impact on the way that their town is governed would have made a difference in the positivity of attitude in the majority of the town citizens. The problem with this system is that citizens were separated by age, gender, race and income. This segregation could have created what I believe to have been unfair and partial decisions that bettered the lives of the eligible voters, but didn’t do the same for other citizens.(democracynature.org)
 * ANCIENT ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY** ([|Direct Democracy])- Athens, the capital of present day Greece, is a very mountainous area, best known for its vineyards, unique architecture and the alluring [|Acropolis of Athens] (Image 1). [[image:acropolis.jpg width="353" height="273" align="left"]]Contemporarily Greece is being filled with thousands of tourists each year from all over the world searching for romance and beauty. [|Athens] is not only a aesthetic place to visit but also has a rich culture and history. (Image 2)


 * UNITED STATES DEMOCRACY** ([|Indirect Democracy]) - The United States first expressed its idea to have a democratic government in the [|Declaration of Independence] on July 4, 1776. When the governing was first put into place it followed the lines of ancient Athenian democracy very closely. Today we use a form of democracy referred to as indirect democracy or representative democracy meaning that, unlike ancient Athenian democracy, the eligible citizens elect a representative who they think will pursue their own interests and vote satisfactorily on their behalf. Instead of voting personally on every issue. Contemporarily in the United States all legal citizens 18 years of ago of older have he right to vote excluding those who are mentally ill (44 states) and inmates.

COMPARISON - Although it isn’t correct to say “What would happen if every eligible citizen had to vote on every United States poll, like in ancient Athenian democracy?” because the allotment of eligible citizens in Athenian democracy was very biased I would have to say that if every eligible citizen was required to vote the outcomes may be very different. Over many centuries United States democracy has become less and less partial, slowly women and citizens of ethnic background were permitted to vote and just over the past 20 years citizens who did not speak English were granted their right to vote. I am not trying to say that United States democracy is flawless, but I just believe that the bias was what eventually lead to the failure of ancient Athenian democracy. If every eligible citizen, in the United States, was required to vote at every election or local and state referendum no one knows what would happen. out lives today could be so different, gay marriage may be legal in every state, (Image 3) we could have different elected officials, abortion may not be legal in any circumstance. All of these possibilities will probably never be answered, because no matter how hard we try I don’t think that every permitted citizen of the United States will vote. Who knows what could happen, some marvelous thing could occur, or maybe our country would be more ahead of its time. The majority of our citizens could be happier.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_democracy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athenian_democracy

[|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_(varieties)]

[|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_(varieties)]

Image 1 -http://www.grisel.net/images/greece/Acropolis22.JPG

Image 2 -[| http://www.world-guides.com/images/greece/greece_map.jpg]

Image 3 -http://dialoginternational.typepad.com