An informed citizenry is the cornerstone of American democracy. The democratic experiment, which is now more than 200 years old, assumes that individuals would first, inform themselves and second, vote. Despite a slight hiccup early on, laws were put into place that ensured that political information would flow freely to the public and gradually, over the years barriers to voting based on property ownership, race, gender and, today, even pre-registration have been removed so that anyone can vote.
write an essay about the problem that includes:
• a short discussion of Aristotle and the “polis” from which we will see that he considers the community to be the highest invention of man;
• a short discussion of Locke and social contract theory which establishes the need for each of us who wish to live in community to yielding to a higher authority in order to live peaceably together; and
• a short discussion of Milton and the “marketplace of ideas,” where all views should be given freedom to be aired in the hopes of finding a grain of truth among the many false ideas. The marketplace of ideas demands a respect for diversity in order to search for the truth that might also be found in diversity.
