[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 63 (Wednesday, May 14, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E926-E927]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         MAKING DEMOCRACY WORK

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. WALTER H. CAPPS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 14, 1997

  Mr. CAPPS. Mr. Speaker, as a Representative for the 22d District of 
California, I am honored to bring to the attention of my colleagues the 
achievement of Yi-Hui Lee, a senior at Dos Pueblos High School. Yi-Hui 
Lee was awarded a $500 scholarship by the Santa Barbara League of Women 
Voters for her paper entitled ``Making Democracy Work.''
  I commend Yi-Hui Lee on her outstanding essay and hope that her 
enthusiasm for American democracy will continue as she enters the 
University of Los Angeles next year. I would like to present this paper 
to my colleagues.

                         Making Democracy Work

                              (Yi-Hui Lee)

       American democracy is a system of government that serves 
     the people through representation. This is achieved through 
     the collaboration of a Constitutional bureaucratic framework, 
     the Bill of Rights, and political tolerance. The United 
     States' Constitution, and its inevitable bureaucratic 
     framework, is structured to maintain checks and balances 
     within the government, which, in return, prevents the rise of 
     any unscrupulous demagogue and seeks the true interests of 
     the people. The Bill of Rights further extends this objective 
     by ensuring individuals' rights to liberty, thus, fostering a 
     higher development in people's political efficacy and 
     involvement. Nevertheless, even with this established 
     Constitutional framework, the public's minimal tolerance is 
     essential in making democracy work. The absence of any one of 
     these factors will make participatory democracy different 
     from the one existing in the United States today.
       By decentralizing governmental powers and providing an 
     equitable bureaucratic structure, the Constitution makes 
     American democracy into the currently practiced, Aristotle 
     definition of the ``rule of many.'' This type of government 
     exists under the creation of a shared power among the 
     judicial, executive, and legislative branches, each one of 
     which watches over the other and assures the checks and 
     balances of the system. As a result, when no one body of 
     government has potential to dictate, the ideal of American 
     democracy that all may be heard is preserved. On a smaller 
     scale, the structure of Congress was adjusted to counteract 
     the difference in population of the states by working under a 
     bicameral legislature. In order to maintain a democratic 
     freedom, in which both majority and state views are heard, 
     the ``Great Compromise'' was organized and established. The 
     Great Compromise reconciled the interests of both small and 
     large states by creating a House of Representatives--
     apportioned on the basis of population--and a  Senate--
     consisting of two senators for each state. By working 
     under this bureaucratic framework, the checks and balances 
     made through decentralization and equal representation 
     allows all sides to present their views.
       The Bill of Rights is another crucial element in making 
     participatory democracy possible in America. Because 
     Americans live under the protection of the first ten 
     amendments, they find themselves more open to publicly 
     voicing their opinions and raising their political efficacy 
     and involvement. The youth of this generation have actively 
     demonstrated their high awareness of and deep concern for 
     some of the most controversial

[[Page E927]]

     issues affecting their community. Students at the University 
     of California at Santa Barbara expressed their disapproval of 
     Proposition 209 by protesting on campus. More recently, 
     students have petitioned to raise the political awareness 
     that the Nike industry is thriving under the operation of 
     numerous sweat shops. These events, in which people were 
     entitled to be heard under the public light, were only 
     possible because of the First Amendment--freedom of speech 
     and the right to peaceably assemble and petition.
       Furthermore, the extent to which democracy can exist is 
     most dependent upon Americans' political culture to tolerate 
     one another's right to his or her opinion as exemplified in 
     the peaceful assembles and petitions previously mentioned. At 
     least minimal political tolerance must be expected in order 
     to preserve the objective of a democracy. If Catholics were 
     denied the right to hold public meetings, if government 
     militia were the norm to breaking up peaceful immigrant 
     protesters, if pro-life groups bombed every abortion clinic, 
     then democracy would fail. National Opinion polls, conducted 
     by Samuel Barnes and Max Kasse, have shown that under the 
     American political culture the public has become more 
     tolerant over the last few decades. These surveys reveal that 
     as more citizens support an oppression-free atmosphere, 
     democracy is able to meet its goal of a participatory 
     government.
       American democracy distinguishes itself from all other 
     systems of government by maintaining the exercise of its 
     Constitutional bureaucratic framework, the Bill of Rights, 
     and political tolerance. The United States' participatory 
     democracy genuinely allows for equal representation in an 
     environment where the voice and concerns of the people can be 
     heard.

     

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