A NEW ERA
American democracy will not remain the same. The value of democracy is always evolving as time goes by. We have the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Bills of Right to keep democracy in check. These laws were develop through the actions of protest, revolutions and war. The civil war was a war between the north and the south to stop slavery and to bring human rights. Change happens when we organize and take action. Like I once said, democracy is always evolving over time. Just like how every American have a different definition on what the American Dream really is.
Democracy is not something that just happened. Democracy is the outcome of the change in society when we take action to get our voice heard.
America is still struggling to maintain the status of a democracy compare to a plutocracy. It is like a tug of war to see who side win. On one said, we have democracy and the other we have plutocracy. Plutocracy is a government run by wealth while a democracy is the opposite of that. Some days, we think we are a democracy and other days, we think we are a plutocracy. No one has won the tug of war yet, but someone will. If one side gains more support and strength, then that side wins. Although, plutocracy is filled with powerful people with money, but their strength and support is not as big as democracy. Why? People still believe in democracy and people need democracy. In order to keep America running like the belief of our founding fathers, the citizens of the United States must take action to keep that goal.
Alan Berolzheimer, PhD once said,
Wall Street is roughly northwest to southeast, from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan in the financial district of New York City. Wall Street pay, in terms of salaries and bonuses and taxes, is an important part of the economy of New York City, the tri-state metropolitan area, and the United States. In 2008, after a downturn in the stock market, the decline meant $18 billion less in taxable income, with less money available for "apartments, furniture, cars, clothing and services". New York workers did not allow this financial crisis and took actions by disturbing the city with protests. Not only because of financial crisis but also because wall street became a movement called Occupy wall street and it became the heart of protest, from economic to climatic change. Through these actions, change happened because politicians needed to talk about actions they could take because it was affecting their political status in the long run.
Wall Street is one of many changes that happened across America because of the action that we take. One of the most well known changes that happened in our local city, the city of brotherly and sisterly love, students brought change to the education system. A change does not have to be big, sometimes, the smallest change can be the biggest change. Students organized rallies, protests and walkouts, and this is one of the changes that were brought through; this is awareness, involvement and dedication to make a bigger change. Students spoke about what works and what does not work in their school, and through this, those with authority to make change have the power to make changes to the education system based on feedback and actions. More programs are being invested in to make our education system better. At the Harvard Graduate School of Education, listen to what Katherine Merseth have to say.
Another big change that has happened is climate change. People are protesting and lobbying to stop bills getting passed by the House and Senate that hurts the environment. In the United States of America, global warming is one of the biggest threat to our economy and our environment. Street protests demanding urgent action on climate change have attracted hundreds of thousands of marchers in more than 2,000 locations worldwide. Mr. Ban said, "This is the planet where our subsequent generations will live. There is no 'Plan B' because we do not have 'Planet B."
This is how we make change by a group of kids at Science Leadership Academy.