Political Systems.....SO very exciting!!! In the realm of Social 30....I guess...

"Democracy arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects; because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal."
Aristotle

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."
Winston Churchill

"Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education."
Franklin D. Roosevelt

"Every one of the world's dictatorships can and does claim to be acting in the name of the people."
Harold H. Greene

"Dictatorships start wars because they need external enemies to exert internal control over their own people."
Richard Perle

"Sometimes it's better to have a benign dictator than a dumb democracy, to be honest."
Serj Tankian

That's right, kidlings! We're going to start our next unit which has to deal with Political Systems.  Essentially, we will be looking at a democratic vs. dictatorial systems.  Through this, we will analyze:

• What are the roles of the citizens in these systems?
• What are the roles of the government in these systems?
• What are the benefits and drawbacks of both systems?
• Where did these ideas originate from?
• Is one system superior to the other and why?
• The different ideological beliefs of the systems of government

And lastly,

• Whether or not these political systems live up to their ideals 

I am really going to stress to you guys to try to keep an open mind during this unit.  Please, don't assume that democracy is the be and all of political systems, because there are some major flaws.  I am not saying let's have a dictatorship, rather I would like to analyze the system we have in our nation and what can be done to improve upon it.

So what's on the agenda for this week?

Monday

• Partner Exam - retake the test with a partner
• Work on planning for essay tomorrow

Tuesday

• In-class writing assignment.  If you are not in class, you must hand in your rough copy the next day you are in class - I will not remind you to do so - if you want feedback before you do your good copy

Wednesday

• Political Liberalism - what it is
• Influence of the Enlightenment and historical influences
• Assignment - similarities and differences between democracies and dictatorships.  You will need either a data seeking device or to bank on using a chrome, which is not necessarily available during class time.



Thursday

• Rants by  Alison and Keyton
• Democracy video
• Article discussion
• TED Talk Video and debate 

Friday

• Vocabulary: Accountable Government, Representation by Population, Proportional Representation
• Canada's Electoral Process