Oxford High School - Clarion Yearbook (Oxford, ME)

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PANEL DISCUSSION ON THE MEANING OF DEMOCRACY Democracy Today The boys and girls 1n the schools of the United States today have many contacts with their govemment They have scen policemen directing traflic at busy comers They have heard the President of the United States speak on the radio They have heard of judges trials and yunes They have seen people stand in line at the pools to vote on election day People did not always have reports from thc heads of govemment on the affairs of the na tion They did not always have courts to which they could go for a fair trial nor the nght to vote in elections and to express their ideas Abraham Lmcoln defined Democracy as govemment of the people by the people and for the people He meant that people have the right to govem themselves In order to understand how Democracy came about not only in the United States but in Great Britain as well it is necessary to go back more than 2000 years to the History of Greece The term Democracy comes from the Greek and means the rule of the people Robert Fntz 53 H :story of Democracy Democracy had its start in ancient Greece about 2000 years ago The people of Athens drscussed freely their opinions When conquered by the Romans they did not have the same kind of government but were allowed to choose a representative to speak for them and to be to see that the laws were enforced The Senate did the govemmg the Assembly said Yes and The Teutons next took over and were sort of Democratic tnbes They elected a man to rule and he called town meetings He would tell the people what he was going to do and get them to help him Then came the Magna Carta 1n which the Church was freed The rights of Nobles were to be respected and certam taxes were not to be levied without the consent of the Council No person was to be arrested without a fair tnal The year 1263 brought another Democratic move when citizens were summoned to Parliament as well as Nobles Then the two houses of Parlxa ment were formed the House of Lords and the House of Commons The Pet1t1on of Rlghts of 1678 stated that only Parliament could levy taxes and other rulings were drawn up This later became worthless and the English people began to come to Amenca in search of further Liberty and justice In 1744 the First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia and adopted the Declaration of Rights In 1776 Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness were guaranteed in the Declaration of Independence The Constitution of the United States was written in 1787 The Bill of Rights serves as the Comerstone of Amencan Democracy We shall preserve these Rights only by dill gently studymg and voting on every issue Only in this way will Democracy live Verna Colby 52 ea I . . I K n I . x 'lt x K K . K ' ' Q . , H Q 2 Pl 1 7 . . , . . . I KK Y, I I , . responsible for carrying their opinions. The Romans had two Councils: Senate and Assembly. 1 I Q 7, 1 , a JINOYY. , . , . 7 , .

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Freedom of the Press Freedom of the press m Amenca rs a wonderful thmg If It were not for thxs good govem ment would be nmpossnble Some people beheve that through the press propaganda IS spread They beheve that be cause many of these papers are pnvatelv owned the behefs of the wealthy owners are over stressed and that they try hard to sway the pubhc they also say the papers try too hard to please the advertlsers thus g'un1ng more patron age In order to please these advertlsers they must take thelr vxewpomt In general they belle ve that the newspapers are on the whole an mstrument used agamst the people Over agamst these vlewpomts we have the fact that we have the best reportmg and news coverage ln the world Granted a posslble blas th1s way or that on the part of some newspaper edntors our best papers have as complete a sep aratlon of news and op1n1on as IS humanly posslble wxth the pubhshmg of the vlewpomts of such speclal edrtonal wrlters as Walter Lxpp man Dorothy Thompson Mark Sulhvan Davld Lawrence and others that are often exactly the 0pp0S1t6 of the ofliclal ed1tor1al op1n1on Furthemxore our forelgn news coverage IS unexcelled and m the field of crlme and cor ruptlon exposure we have the notable examples of the pubhc SCYVICG rf such newspapers as the Phlladelphla Pubhc I edger and one has but to examrne the records of the Puhtzer awards for any year to Bnd examples of the Crusades 'lgamst crlme IH the Held of youmahsm Freedom of the press rs an essen nal m democracy so that the best ldeas mav prevall and progress may be made The way to dest oy a bad 1de'1 IS to present '1 better one Although the r1 t of freedom of the press may be abused by a few people there has not been dlscovered 1 better way to prov1de the members of '1 democracy wlth the facts that they need to know Censorshlp would produce even greater abuses more and more censorshlp would be demanded F rancxs Hernck 52 Education Educatlon started back m Fgvnt along the Nlle about five or SIX thousand years ago The people were taught m groups by a leader who taught all that he knew to the group Thev then could pass the knowledge on to thelr chlldren Sometmmes they wrote on slates such as Abraham Lxncoln used After the slate was filled ltwould all have to be erased Thmk how far we have come today to have all the thmgs me have 1n our schools All past knowledge IS available to us m books We have dlfferent teachers for dlfferent sublects Vl e have tools and equipment for work and study We have dCtlVltl6S for health and entertalnment It used to be that hlgh schools prepared only for college Now we can also leam how to work and eam fi hvmv ln schools today whlch IS 1 great adv mt lge to those not able to go to college Therc IS need for tramlng m manv skllls whlch can be used for employment after gradu ation QCl10Olbll'1VC to prepare now both for collc L and for fI'lilbS The re are many courses taught today as Shop Drlvcr Edutltnon Dome hc Suenu Nlusme md Art Edumtlon cannot go backward It must go forw 1rd Bemard Dunn 53 a , A 1 - ' . v ' ' . , 1. . 1 , , 1 ' 7 ' 1 3 i . . y . , ' I li ,P KK l 0 ,I s 3 , 7 ' 7 I 7 , . . 7 . . - , L A l l ' . J Q . . . Q. . . . . . , , 1 and in the end our democracy would be destroy ed and in its place wc would have dictatorship. , . I I I I I x A . rv ' I l 1 1 . I - , 1 L . . D . , . . L 2 2 ' ' . ., ' . . 1 Eg X 1 1 ' . 2 . ' ' 5 r , I ' 7 ' 4 '1 l x A3 I h K 1. X H I, A J. u, R - 4 lc . r . . , ' R u

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Dunes of Czuzens m a Democracy I feel that more attentnon should be paxd to the problems of the Umted States md that wt should honor and help the men Ill govemment who are workmg for us There IS too much goxng on for 6XC1t6IHCIlt and people thmk only of the fun they themselves can h ue Xl mv young men before bemg drafted to fight for thexr country hardly gnve a thought to world aff'urs or even thexr own countrys HHRIFS When boys are taken from thenr home town and lose a llttle of the freedom they once had they begm to reahze the problems of a Democracy and what our gov emment stands for After servxng some of thelr txme they feel that they have done somethmg to help settle our troubles Many boys away from home Who thought they would never roam Are flghtmg for our country dear And feel that a hard war IS near It seems to me that the same IS true for women and teen agers Most of us thmk about the affalrs of government whxle l1St6IllI'lg to the radio or readmff the newspaper or attendmg church The rest of the t1me we are thmkmg of somethlnff to do to make ourselves happy and enyoy llfe Everyone needs to have recreat1on but lf we thlnk of nothmg else soon our hbertles w1ll be lost There are many 1n the world who cannot do just as they wlsh Soon we w1ll be old enough to vote and we should glve more attentlon to our country and thmk what can be done to help the people who are str1v1ng to keep the Umted States as lt IS today 'Ihere IS need for volunteers 1n the Armed Forces and many keep puttmg It off as they feel somewlut safer outslde the servlce Many are needed on the Home Front 81 cl we should thmk of that Th1nk of all the freedom we would lose 1f Russn or any Commumst Country got control here VVe would not want to see Commumsm rul1ng the Umted States nor Socxahsm Our country was founded by people seekm g hberty to worslnp Cod 'as they choose and Rehglon IS the foundatlon upon whlch our Dem ocmcy 19 bmlt Inch one IS free to follow what ever Rellglon he wlshes All we can do IS hope that each one w1ll stand up for and keep hls own Rellglon as w1th Commumsm here we would not be allowed to Democracy means These nghts would dlsappear lf SOClalISm came We need to guard these nghts whxch Amellca has always had and they axe worth workmg and fightmg for Norma Charles 53 Opportumtles m a Democracy Amenca lb a wonderful pl me to lnt Ask us Ameucans we should know VVc have freedom of speech freedom of press free dom of relxglon free cduc ltxon lnd mmy other rlghts WlIlLll safeguard our llb6I'tl6S as cltlzens of the Unlted States Amerlca IS a countrv which lS envled by many forelgn people who wxsh they had such 1 wonderful place to l1ve ln Thousands from forelgn oppressed countnes have come to our land of the free to start a new lxfe Our lmproved hlghw lys publlc plrks llbr mes llI'llV6I'blt16S mu seums theatres and concert halls are avallable to all In Amerlca we do not have a sole autocratlc ruler but a rule by the people If we were to v1s1t Russla we would very clearly see the advantages of our way of llfe In this country of ours all people are treated equal no matter of wh It race or rellglon VVt ill hve is one grelt fallllly ln thus wonderful land Amerlcfl It wlll always bc known 'ls thc llncl of the free and the home of the br we nf we do om part to keep lt so Reta Owens 52 I I I I I ., 1 ' ' ' ' 1 1 ' . l 1 ' ' , - 5 K I u C . 'C n . 6 x L - C T 4 ' , ' , 1 ' ' ' . , I , - l . I 1 1 , The right to work, and save, and own property, and develop our own abilities is also what . , . Y . . . '. '-. A its 'vsl -f - s-'.f K-Q s- ' I 1 s 1 , , ,B , ' ' , 2 2 '1 ' 1 1 'A J ' ' , . I . . 2 V7 . 1 Q, . 2 . v 7 h , . , 1 a . I 1 2 I I ' . L 1 ' 1 , 1 ' ' ' ' -1 ' 1 . 2 . . 1 1 ' I 1 ' ' . . , .