American Promise
When I was teaching middle school, let's see, a DECADE ago, I came across an amazing curriculum supplement called the American Promise. It was a discussion guide, really, and came with some awesome, 10 minute video clips to be used as discussion starters. I'm not sure how much my students retained when going through this guide, but I learned tons. There was no political slant, only the basic elements of democracy, with examples of each in action, with positive and negative results when these elements are encouraged or ignored.
See, Democracy is a very fragile form of government. It is dependent on these basic elements, and when any one of them is weak, the entire structure of democracy is weakened. Freedom, responsibility and participation are cornerstones of our government. If we choose not to participate, or don't carry out our responsibilities, we pay the consequences. Hard choices, deliberations and information are the things that get us going, get us talking and making decisions. Opportunity and common ground makes things come together. These are not things that impact the government at the national level...these are things that change our lives at the local level. And when local level changes, bigger government also changes. This is grass roots democracy at its best.
So I got to see grass roots democracy in action this week in our little town here in Texas. Local people got together to protest increased taxes at a tea party in our town. It wasn't hateful, it wasn't violent, it wasn't obnoxious. It was people coming together with like values letting the government know their feelings on the matter. Whether or not you agree with the topic, you should and must agree with this cornerstone of a free society.
Grass Roots Democracy at it's best.
PS. If you are interested in the FREE curriculum guide, it can be found by clicking on the title of this post.
See, Democracy is a very fragile form of government. It is dependent on these basic elements, and when any one of them is weak, the entire structure of democracy is weakened. Freedom, responsibility and participation are cornerstones of our government. If we choose not to participate, or don't carry out our responsibilities, we pay the consequences. Hard choices, deliberations and information are the things that get us going, get us talking and making decisions. Opportunity and common ground makes things come together. These are not things that impact the government at the national level...these are things that change our lives at the local level. And when local level changes, bigger government also changes. This is grass roots democracy at its best.
So I got to see grass roots democracy in action this week in our little town here in Texas. Local people got together to protest increased taxes at a tea party in our town. It wasn't hateful, it wasn't violent, it wasn't obnoxious. It was people coming together with like values letting the government know their feelings on the matter. Whether or not you agree with the topic, you should and must agree with this cornerstone of a free society.
Grass Roots Democracy at it's best.
PS. If you are interested in the FREE curriculum guide, it can be found by clicking on the title of this post.
Comments