Find statements which are not true to the text
1) A direct democracy is practical with small numbers of people.
2) Modern society offers a lot of opportunities for a direct democracy.
3) Majority rule is not necessarily democratic.
4) Charitable organizations, business organizations, Labor Unions serve a mediating role.
5) All these organizations depend upon the government for their existence, legitimacy and authority.
Arrange the following words in pairs of synonyms
to exercise to suppose
to elect to determine
to offer to choose
to define to practice
to assume to propose
vast fair
responsibilities enormous
just duties
Arrange the following words in pairs of antonyms and name the negative prefixes
Direct Informally
Formally Illegal
Agree Impractical
Legal Irregularly
Practical Disagree
Regularly Indirect
Read the following words and their derivatives and translate them into Russian
| vary | - | variety | - | various |
| democracy | - | Democratic | - | democrat |
| participate | - | participation | - | participant |
| decide | - | decision | - | decisive |
| arrive | - | arrival | - | |
| Manage | - | management | - | manager |
| direct | - | direction | - | director |
| represent | - | representation | - | representative |
| administer | - | administration | - | administrative |
| legislate | - | Legislative | - | legislation |
Translate into Russian in writing Paragraphs 1 and
Prepare the dictionary and annotation of the text.
Read and translate the text
RIGHTS
Inalienable Rights
Thomas Jefferson set forth a fundamental principle upon which democratic government is founded. Governments in a democracy do not grant the fundamental freedoms enumerated by Jefferson; governments are created to protect those freedoms that every individual possesses by virtue of his or her existence.
In their formulation by the Enlightenment philosophers of the 17th and 18th centuries, inalienable rights are God-given natural rights. These rights are not destroyed when civil society is created, and neither society nor government can remove or «alienate» them.
Inalienable rights include freedom of speech and expression, freedom of religion and conscience, freedom of assembly and the right to equal protection. Since they exist independently of government, these rights cannot be legislated away, nor are they subject to the momentary whim of an electoral majority. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, for example, does not give freedom of religion or of the press to the people; it prohibits the Congress from passing any law interfering with freedom of speech, religion and peaceful assembly. A historian, Leonard Levy, has said, «Individuals may be free when their government is not».
Speech
Freedom of speech and expression is the lifeblood of any democracy. To debate and vote, to assemble and protest, to worship, to ensure for all-these all rely upon the unrestricted flow of speech and information.
Citizens of a democracy live with the conviction that through the open exchange of ideas and opinions, truth will eventually win out over falsehood, the values of others will be better understood areas of compromise more clearly defined, and the path of progress opened. The greater the volume of such exchanges, the better.
The corollary to freedom of speech is the right of the people to assemble and peacefully demand that the government hear their grievances. Without this right to gather and be heard, freedom of speech would be devalued. For this reason, freedom of speech is considered closely linked to, if not inseparable from, the right to gather, protest and demand change. Democratic governments can legitimately regulate the time and place of political rallies and marches to maintain the peace, but they cannot use that authority;to suppress protest or to prevent dissident groups from making their voices heard.
Freedom and Faith
Freedom of religion, or more broadly freedom of conscience means that no person should be required to profess any religion or other belief against his or her desires. Additionally, no one should be punished or penalized in any way because he or she chooses one religion over another or, indeed, opts for no religion at all. The democratic state recognizes that a person's religious faith is a profoundly personal matter.
Citizenship: Rights and Responsibilities
Democracies rest upon the principle that government exists to serve the people; the people do not exist to serve the government. In other words, the people are citizens of the democratic state, not its subjects. While the state protects the rights of its citizens, in return, the citizens give the state their loyalty.
But rights, like individuals, do not function in isolation. Rights are not the private possession of individuals, but exist only insofar as they are recognized by other citizens of the society; the electorate, as the American philosopher Sidney Hook expressed it, is «the ultimate custodian of its own freedom». From this perspective, democratic government, which is elected by and accountable to its citizens, is not the antagonist of individual rights, but their protector. It is to enhance their rights that citizens in a democracy undertake their civic obligations and responsibilities.
The essence of democratic action is the active, freely chosen participation of its citizens in the public life of their community and nation. Without this broad, sustaining participation, democracy will begin to wither and become the preserve of a small, select number of groups and organizations.
Democracy, Diane Ravitch writes, «is a process, a way of living and working together. It is evolutionary, not static. It requires cooperation, compromise and tolerance among all citizens. Making it work is hard, nor easy. Freedom means responsibility, not freedom from responsibility».
Democracy embodies ideals of freedom and self-expression, but it is also clear-eyed about human nature. It does not demand that citizens be universally virtuous, only that they will be responsible. As American theologian Reinhold Neibuhr said: «Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary».
12.2. Answer the following questions:
1) What fundamental principle is democratic government founded upon?
2) What are inalienable rights?
3) Why is freedom of speech, devalued without freedom of assembly?
4) What can democratic government do concerning freedom of assembly?
5) What is the essence of democratic action?
6) How does D. Ravich define democracy?
12.3. Find in the text the beginnings for the following
endings:
1) ... are God-given natural rights.
2) ... when their government is not.
3) ... is the lifeblood of any democracy.
4) ... freedom of speech would be devalued.
5) ... recognizes that aperson's religions faith is a profoundly personal matter.
6) ... do not function in isolation.
7) ... is the ultimate custodian of its own freedom.
8) ... democracy will begin to wither.
9) ... cooperation, compromise and tolerance among all citizens.
10) ..., but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.
12.4. Fill in the blanks with words from the text:
1) Governments in a democracy do not... the fundamental freedoms.
2) Governments are created to ... those freedoms.
3) Neither society nor government can ... or ... them.
4) To debate and vote, to assemble and protest, to worship, to ensure justice ... upon the unrestricted flow of speech and information.
5) The democratic state ... that a person's religious faith is a profoundly personal matter.
6) While the state protects the right of its citizens, ..., the citizens give the state their loyalty.
12.5. Find the statements which are not true to the text:
1) The fundamental freedoms are granted and protected by governments.
2) Every individual possesses these freedoms by virtue of his or her existence.
3) Freedom of speech is closely linked to the right to gather, protest and demand change.
4) Democratic governments have no right to regulate the time and place of political rallies.
5) Democratic government is elected by and accountable to its citizens.
12.6. Translate the following sentences in writing paying attention to emphatic constructions:
1) Since they exist independently of Government, these rights cannot be legislated away, nor are they subject to the momentary whim of an electoral majority.
2)It is a difficult matter to argue with the belly since it has no ear.
3)The greater the volume of such exchanges, the better.
4)Everyone has to learn certain things, the younger, the easier.
5)The greater the risk, the greater the fun.