As of right now, America is in a state of separation. The conservative and liberal factions of the country are currently clashing. Political polarization is at its worst. If the backlash against the latest election is any indication, we will have to rethink our current form of government. The change could be as small as removing the electoral college’s influence or something as big as a complete overhaul. If change is really about to happen, the question is, do we need Democracy right now?

Right now, our system of Democracy has a major weakness in that fact that it cannot attend to the needs of all the American people at once. It’s practically impossible to create a policy that doesn’t affect one side or the other. Improving welfare and increasing minimum wage? The rich will have to pay for that. Tax cuts for the wealthy? It looks like the poor will have to provide the money needed to sustain the government. This isn’t even taking into account the troubling polarization taking place in the senate. Our legislative branch can’t pass any policies because there is no willingness to compromise with each other. Both parties will argue for their side alone and the lack of a middle-ground will leave both sides at a stalemate.

Well, if we were to hypothetically abandon democracy, what type of government should we use? One of the first forms of government that comes to mind is communism. Yes, communism, the ideals that have frightened so many American in the past. It boasts a system in which all people are essentially treated equally. Everyone will have all the same possessions and opportunities open to them. There wouldn’t be any competition or conflict, no rich and no poor. But do we really want that? Without competition, there would be no reason to improve ourselves. The government would have complete control over our lives which is the very reason America was founded, to prevent that. If we are going to move forward as a country, we will have to rethink not how we want our government to work, but how we will get it to work. We have to unite as one group even if it seems to be impossible. Just remember, we don’t need democracy, right now, democracy needs us.

It’s hard to believe that idea of democracy is over 2000 years old, especially since we consider America to be one of earliest the democratic powerhouses. This just isn’t true, there have been many societies which have used democracy to govern its people. Although, it is worth mentioning that the democracy we see today is different from democracy in it’s earliest stages. Greece is one of the oldest societies to have records of democracy which span back to the 6th Century B.C.E. Their democracy focused on leaders who were chosen by the people, usually the elders, and worked alongside the public to manage the village or community.  This is referred to as tribalism or primitive democracy and it is very similar to our version of democracy. The only differences are that in tribalism, the leaders aren’t officially elected but rather, recommended by the people. Unlike in the current form of democracy, the leaders only interacted with people from their community, there was not a larger form of government to connect them.

The next step towards our modern democracy can be seen in Rome at around 450 B.C.E.  The last king of Rome lost his position in 510 B.C.E when a group of aristocrats acted on social unrest and removed him from power. A new constitution was crafted but it left the plebians, the middle and lower class people of the time, unsatisfied. After much backlash, Rome instituted a group of new laws, the Twelve Tables, along with a group of new leaders. Said leaders could only govern for two years but the new laws allowed the plebeians to run for political positions. This form of democracy is very complex and but somewhat similar to ours. A major difference was that there were two Consuls, the Roman equivalent of a president. Another difference is that senators had to be rich and own land to be a part of the senate. Other than that, there are few differences between our democracy and the Roman democracy. The Roman senate passed laws and policies and the assemblies, were institutions that allowed the public to cast votes.

The democracies of the past are slightly different to the form of democracy seen in the U.S. today, however, we can see the influence it has had on us. Although it would be much later until we would see the three branches of government the fundamental values were there all along. Its longevity goes to show, how effective and practical democracy truly is.

“There is nothing like sharing a stage with Donald Trump. Donald wanted me drug tested before last night’s debate. And look, I am so flattered that Donald thought I used some sort of performance enhancer. Now, actually I did. It’s called preparation.”

This was a quote made by Hillary Clinton at the Al Smith dinner, a charity dinner held in New York City. Many politicians were invited including the two presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.  The dinner has always been seen as a casual event and because of that, both candidates had the opportunity to tell jokes. Out of all of Hillary’s jabs at Trump, this quote was by far the best.

I chose this piece of rhetoric because it caught my attention and got me to laugh while still having a point, a message. The message is that Hillary is always prepared while Trump is not and for the most part, it’s true. Trump is very impulsive, he says the first thing that comes to his mind and because of that, Trumps gets a lot of criticism. Hillary Clinton knows this and she managed to weave it into her joke. The quote also critiques Trump’s suggestion of a drug test. The only reason Trump wanted a drug test was because Hillary was still recovering from an illness and Trump implied that she needed drugs and medication to even turn up to debates. Again, Hillary is able to use this against him by saying that the only “performance enhancer” she uses is preparation. In general, this quote was actually funny and it fired back at Trump.

The quote is logos as it appeals to the listener’s logical thinking while drawing attention to Trump’s lack of logic.  This rhetoric works by claiming that Hillary uses preparation while implying that Trump does not.  Seeing as how this was said at a charity dinner and not a debate or rally, this piece of rhetoric may have been meant for people who aren’t really into politics, such as myself. The only language that is worth noting is the term, “performance enhancer”. In the world of sports, it is seen as a way to unfairly get an advantage. This is why the joke of preparation being a performance enhancer is funny. This piece of rhetoric is very effective because it is simple yet it grabs the listener’s attention.  Personally, I couldn’t stop laughing and I agreed with the point she was trying to make. If that was the point of Hillary’s  joke, then she was successful.

The monologue that most interested me was the Vet Story by Seema Sueko. It interested me because when I watched it many people came to mind. The monologue itself was about a veteran who fought in Afghanistan and now has a hard time intergrating back into notmal society. He struggles to interact  with his family as he does not want them to see him as a killer. Despite his efforts, he unintentionally hits his daughter when she triggers a flash back from the war. Although he is proud to be a solider, he claims that he has lost his innocence in the call of duty. Essentially, he realized that even though the war has ended, his life will never be the same.

While watching the monologue I began to think about my grandparents, those on my father’s side. I never had the oppurtunity to meet them as they died before I was born. They lived in Jamaica and were police officers. Unfortunately they were unable to spend much time with their families because of their professions. They would only eat after they had finished working and they almost always put their job before their health. While they were honored for protecting their community, they had to sacrifice their personal lives in order to do so. This also makes me worry about my friends who have chosen to join the military after graduating high school. I hope that the experience of being a part of the army strengthens them instead of harming them.