fandomhigh | US Government (Friday, January 13, 4th period)

Josh was leafing through an old copy of the Congressional Record (because he's a dork like that) when his government class arrived.

"Okay, before I can bore you all with American government, I need to give you some quick background." He clasped his hands together. "Prepare to be bored by Greek and Roman government."

He looked over the class. "This'll be on the test, though, so don't get so bored you're not taking notes, or are drooling all over them or something. I have pretty decent aim with a wadded-up piece of paper and absolutely no problem in throwing one at you."

He consulted his notes, then wrote DEMOCRACY on the board in bold strokes. "The word democracy comes from the Greek roots 'demos-' meaning 'people' and '-kratia' meaning 'rule.' In Greek democracy, political power wasn't concentrated in the hands of a small group of people, but among all of them." Josh raised an eyebrow. "If your definition for 'people' was 'free adult males,' of course." He looked down at the papers in his hands. "Okay. The main legislative body, the Assembly, was made up of no less than the first 6,000 citizens that showed up at the meeting. Jury duty was considered an honor, not a pain in the ass, and being a member in most other civic institutions, including the Supreme Court, was chosen by lot." He looked around the room. "Take a minute and imagine some of your family members, or people in this classroom, with the authority to be the ultimate arbiters of justice on some of the cases the Supreme Court has to decide and you'll see why the Greek system might have a few kinks in it.

"The Romans took the Greek system of direct democracy and modified it into a representative democracy, which at first glance seems a lot like the system currently in place in the United States. The Founders of this country borrowed heavily from the Roman system, implementing its bicameral--two chambered--legislature and it's system of groups of people voting for one person to represent them, rather than the direct democracy the Greeks used. We also yoinked most of their legal system, especially the codification of concepts like equal protection, innocent until proven guilty, and the right to confront your accuser."

He put the notes down. "The Roman Republic eventually gave way to the Roman Empire, which, while incredibly powerful and terribly, terribly interesting, wasn't a democratic government and so we will skip it."

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm also, I'm pretty sure, required by law to mention that the Magna Carta--the piece of paper that nobles in England forced King John to sign that codified that no man, not even a king, is above the law--was signed in 1215." He looked at them. "So write it down. I'm definitely sure I have to ask you about that later.

"Almost done. I promise. Okay, the last piece of the puzzle was the Enlightenment. The 17th and 18th Centuries produced a bunch of prominent thinkers--you've heard of them--Locke, Hobbes, those guys--theorizing that there was a social contract between the rulers and those they governed, with terms that were binding on both sides. Of course at the time, countries were ruled by monarchs who weren't terribly anxious to implement these theories, as you might imagine, but we'll get to that next class."

"No homework tonight, but I want you to divide up into groups of two or three and discuss this question: Is direct democracy practical today? In a nation of almost 300 million people, is it possible to simultaneously gather all their opinions?"

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...

After the lecture, Alphonse looked around the room to see if anyone was open for a partner.

Spotting someone else who seemed partnerless, Lindsey slid his chair over to Alphonse.

"Need someone to discuss with? I don't think it'd work at all, personally."

"Oh, that would be good! Though I can't say I know too much about governments and all... Doesn't hurt to try."

"It'd be nice if it'd work, I guess. But trying it out could cause an awful lot of problems. And if people aren't voting now, why give them more things to not vote on?"

"No. We can barely get the votes we need to elect representatives. How can we vote for every little law or law adjustments."

"That's why you should elect the best representative who will support your interests, right?"

"But also have the ability to take them out of power if they start to, you know, suck."

"In addition, how do you get almost 300 million people to understand the fine points of each individual law? So even if people did vote, were they voting because the understood or are they voting for the best sound bite."

"First you've got to get to the 300 million as well," Elizabeth said. "Which is pretty hard, and if you go by the census, then there's a good percentage not included.

And it seems to me that getting all 300 million to understand it all is just going to cost even more. If it costs a dollar a person to do, then why not put the $300 million into schools? Or help use it to feed the 300 million children in the world who are considered to be chronically hungry?"

Sam moved her chair over and waited for the rest of her group.

"Hey, Sam," Peter said, moving his chair. "I think that with the technology around now, it could be done, but I doubt it would be done well."

"Hey, Peter," Sam said. "I think you're right. But even more, I really don't think everyone should have a direct voice in government. There are a lot of stupid, evil, crazy, or just plain uninformed people in the world. They deserve a vote, but a direct voice in policy? That's chaos."

"Oh, I know that far too well. Way too many bad people overall for direct representation to be a good idea," Peter said. "I think it's good to have a few buffers like we do."

"But the system we have is flawed, as well. The independent person's voice is being lost in the wake of huge campaign contributions from large corporate entities."

"I could probably use some contributions for my campaign. Corporations really need to start looking at potential stooges earlier in their careers. *ahem*," Peter said. "Sorry."

"Anyway, there are some massive, massive flaws with the current system, but it generally works pretty well. Sure, there's room for improvement, but I'm inclined to believe that it serves us better than a direct vote would tend to."

Sam chuckled. "No problem. And of course it would. I shudder to think what would happen if everyone really had a voice in the government."

Peter shook his head somberly. "Anarchy. Chaos. Adam Sandler for President. All things we really don't need."

"You're a very scary individual, Peter."

"Way scary," Charlie agreed. "But I think we do an okay job now. I mean, we get everyone's opinion on stuff through the voting polls in elections. Politicians do polls in their electoral region to see what the people want too, and that affects policy."

"Yeah, but they talk to about a thousand people, right?" Sam looked to someone for confirmation. "It's not always a representative sample of the population."

Mystique has scooted over by now, intent on not failing the participation grade. ( ;) ) "And there are some people politicians don't feel are 'worth' listening to. Whether those people are among their constituency or not."

Sam nodded. "There are. Usually the disenfranchised, or people without political clout, money, or an easy issue."

Charlie nodded. "That's true."

US Government (Friday, January 13, 4th period)

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