III. Necessary Conditions for Democracy

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III. Necessary Conditions for Democracy
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Who Said it?

• Ask not what your country can do for you ask
  what you can do for your country.
• As we express our gratitude, we must never
  forget that the highest appreciation is not to
  utter words, but to live by them.
• Forgive your enemies, but never forget their
  names.

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Kennedy Video
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A. Consent of the Governed

• People must freely agree to have a government
• One of the most important ideas found in the
  Constitution
• Found in the Preamble
• We the people

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• Jean-Jacques Rousseau Enlightenment philosopher
• The Social Contract (1762) All citizens have
  the same innate rights
• Only legitimate governments are those that
  protect individual rights
• King receives powers from the general will of
  the people and not God

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(No Transcript)
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B. Political Equality

• Equality of opportunity
• Equality before the law
• One person, one vote Equal political unit
• Everyone must have an equal right to participate

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• Question Does everyone have to participate to
  make democracies successful?
• Need not be universal
• Must be roughly representive
• reflective

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C. Majority Rule Minority Rights

• Majority Rule Decisions made by more than half
  of the people must be accepted by all Really
  seen in the House of Representatives
• All Americans must accept election results
• Minority Rights Respected and given an
  opportunity to voice their opinions Really seen
  in the Senate

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Primary Source James Madison June 8, 1789

• The greatest danger lies, namely that which
  possesses the highest prerogative of power. But
  this is not found in either the executive or
  legislative departments of Government, but in the
  body of the people, operating by the majority
  against the minority.

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Endo v. United States

• During WWII 100,000 Japanese Americans were sent
  to relocation camps
• Caused by fear and racist beliefs
• Found that it was against the law to fire and
  relocate Japanese Americans

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Japanese Interment Camps
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Civil War and Majority Rule

• Secession was illegal according to Lincoln
• Would lead to an endless splintering of authority
  
• Disgruntled minorities could chose to seceded all
  the time

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Primary Source Abraham Lincoln 1861

• Plainly, the central idea of secession, is the
  essence of anarchy.

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D. Need for Compromise

• Compromise Blending and adjusting competing
  views of interest
• Each side is forced to give up something
• Essential part of democratic process
• Most U.S. laws are a product of compromise

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E. Inclusion

• Government should include equal rights to all
  citizens
• Right to act and express yourself as long as you
  do not violate others rights

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Oliver Wendell Holmes
The right to swing my fist ends where the other
mans nose begins