Ancient democracy to present democracy Essay Example for Free

Ancient res publica to expose democracy EssayThe sacred scripture democracy is derived from two Greek words, demos, which means people, and kratos, which means rule. Today the word has come to mean exactly that, ruled by the people. Many ancient political Greek philosophers would handling the phrase the governors argon to be governed which we can relate to today. Even though the Greeks notion of democracy is dramatically different from our current democracy, it has been one of the most influential philosophies that have shaped the political thought of the get together States. Ironically the term democracy is the most used term to describe the American government counterbalance though it has little meaning in our government today.The Athenian government was the first democracy cognise to the world. Athens had a government where all of the citizens took part in the decision making. Thus, everyone who qualified as a citizen could participate and did not have to be an electe d delegate. For one to be considered a citizen they first had to be born in Athens and had to be free. Next, once turned eighteen days of age he had to have at least two years of military training then see in the navy or army. After he has served he could then vote. After the age of thirty he could be considered for council. The women of Athens were also considered to be citizen however they did not posses any political power.The Athenian democracy had three main branches which were the assembly, the council, and the jurymen. The assembly had the reasonability of making the policies for Athens. The assembly could be considered the legislative branch and it was made of pensionable Athenian citizens. The council enforced administrative matters and the policies. They were also in control of the military and finances. The council was made of five blow citizens and could be considered the executive branch. The jury men had the important yet tedious job of resolving disputes of the people. in that respect were sextet thousand jurymen to manage this job in the courts. The Greeks of Athens had no single head of the government and no political parties.The United States has some similarities with Athenian democracy but very few. in that location ar three branches, the legislative, executive, and the judicial whichare similar to the three branches of Athenss government. The legislative branch is made of the Senate and the House of Representatives. They are in charge of making the laws of the states. The House of Representatives consists of a representative from each state. There is one representative from each district in the state. The district in each state depends on the population of the state. There are four hundred and thirty five members of the House. Each of them only serve for two years and then have to run for re-election.The Senate consists of one hundred members. Each state has two representatives in the Senate. The Senate has three times the amount of service time than the House. The Executive branch is the president and his footlocker. The president gets to appoint his cabinet which consists of several positions, the Secretary of State, Attorney General, National Security Advisor, and more. The judicial branch has nine justices as apposed to six thousand, one that serve as the Chief Justice. Once they are positive by the president they serve for the rest of their lives.As you can see, the American democracy doesnt quite fit the Greeks definition of democracy. They have appointed officials that can dictate how the people live. The Greek democracy actually consisted of citizens that could participate in political issues without be elected or appointed.