Nations At Battle - Who won?

Government Simulation

     In Humanities we have been doing a simulation about governments and how they work. Over these few days, it has been very fun working on this. I think that it was good to do a simulation with competition instead of just working on it and writing information down. I say this because if you experience the work then you feel the work. You understand it better. Also, since it was a competition, I think that people put more effort into the work because they really wanted to win. I think that if there is an objective (a prize), people try harder to win it. This project is something that I really enjoyed and I would be very happy to do something like this again. However, the main focus on this simulation was talking about the different types of government and which one works better to meet the people’s needs. So here is some information about each and every government function that we learned about:

     The second day was when we started working. We started off with a direct democracy. A direct democracy is a system in where the people take a big part in. The citizens have a lot of freedom of speech and are allowed big role. Citizens can make laws and vote for laws. When a citizen makes a law, it is called voter initiative. However, writing a law is not that simple. It does take time and effort. The first step that they need to follow is obviously, to write the law down on paper. Then they have to get enough votes and signatures from eligible voters to pass the law. On top of that they have to pay a fee of $200. When they achieve that they are allowed to pass the law and then the people vote on that. Another thing that the citizens can do is that they can recall someone. When a recall happens, it is when the people get enough votes to kick someone in the government out of office. The good aspects of a direct democracy is that people have freedom of speech. They can express out their opinions and tell other what they are thinking. Another aspect is that majority wins over the minority. This is good because that way you can see what really meets the people’s needs. However, there are some flaws in a direct democracy. The first flaw is that the people are not trained to write laws like the government is. They are not professional at it. So, if a citizen passes a law out that is not well written, things could go wrong. For example, in California, there was a law written out that if you make three felonies you go to jail your whole life. The problem with that was that the jails started crowding up and there was no more space. That was all because the law was not written out properly. 

     The third day we talked about a representative democracy. A representative democracy is a democracy in where the citizen’s vote for two people to represent them. That means that they are the people that the citizens need to trust and rely on. In a representative democracy, the government is separated into three different groups. The first group is the Legislative branch. The legislative branch is where all the laws are written. Then, comes the second branch, the executive branch, which is where the president takes part in. They are the ones who make sure the laws are obeyed, they enforce the laws. Then, there is the last branch, the judicial branch. That is where all the laws are read over and checked over by the judges to make sure that they are fair and that they meet the people’s needs. The judges are all elected by the president because the judges really need to be trusted and they need to know what is going on. The strengths of a representative democracy are the following: First of all, the people do not need to spend their whole day writing and worrying about the laws. It all leads up to the representatives. Second of all, the checks and balances program. The checks and balances are part of the three branches. For example, each branch has their own duty and power, however, because of the checks and balances, no one branch gets over control. Each branch takes care of each other to makes sure the laws meet the people’s needs. Also, in a representative democracy, majority rules over minority. This way people can make sure that it is fair. Finally, in a representative democracy, you are free of speech. That means that if you do not like what is going on, you can start a protest and you will probably not get hurt or killed. Instead, your opinion will be valued. Now, for the weaknesses: The first weakness is the fight between the two parties, republicans and democratic. This is very bad in a representative democracy. For example, recently in the USA, the government shut down because the republicans and the democratic cannot agree over Obama care. That caused the government to shut down. The next weakness is that sometimes, the representatives think that they have all the power and end up taking too much. That is when corruption happens. For example, in Brasil, there have been many protest because the representatives started corruption. Corruption is very bad for a country.

     Both of these democracies are very similar in some ways, however they do have some differences. The similarities of a direct and a representative democracy are: 1. they both have a system where majority rules over majority, 2. they both include a voting system, and 3. they both allow the people to have freedom of speech. The difference is: 1. in a representative democracy you vote for others to make your laws, however, in a direct democracy you make your laws. 

     The fourth day we worked on an oligarchy. An oligarchy is where a group of people rule over the rest without listening to their opinions. These people are usually wealthy and have power. It always works the following way: Minority wins over majority. In an oligarchy, people do not have freedom of speech. If they speak their opinion, they get repressed. To get repressed means that your freedom gets taken away. For example, in Chine, some students started complaining and fighting for their rights. Obviously, they had a consequence. That consequence was death. The oligarchy sent in tanks at night when they were sleeping and killed everyone. Also, in an oligarchy they use authoritarian to repress people. Authoritarian means that people are forced to be obedient. There are really few strengths in an oligarchy. The strengths are only for the oligarchs. They get all the power to themselves. The weaknesses are many: First of all, people do not have freedom of speech so they cannot speak what they mean. That is not doing well for meeting the needs of the people. The second weakness is that there is a consequence for expressing your opinion. I think that everyone should have the right to express their opinion. The third weakness is that you cannot vote to kick them out. You can only vote for them, which does not really help.

The fifth and final day we worked on a dictatorship. A dictatorship is when someone takes over the country all by him/herself and run it on their own making their own laws to only benefit him. In a dictatorship, the dictator usually does not do good stuff. He is usually always only thinking about himself. So then you might think "how does he get elected?” That's simple. He uses propaganda. Propaganda is when a dictator controls the social communication places and starts spreading news that he is the best and that he will help the country. By doing that, his result is trust. The people trust him and put him in-charge. However, that is when things get out of control. That is when he starts to exploit the people. Exploit means to maximize benefit from something. He takes their freedom. Also, in a dictatorship there are no oppositions. The strength of a dictatorship is that the government works directly. The laws are passed quickly because no one needs to discuss them. It is just all up to the dictator. The weaknesses are: First of all, the minority rules over the

majority. Second, only one person is in-charge so there is no one to tell him right or wrong. Finally, the people have no freedom of speech. They cannot express their opinion if not they receive a consequence.

     An oligarchy and a dictatorship are mostly alike, however there are some differences. An oligarchy is different from a dictatorship because a dictatorship is where someone runs a country by himself, however, in an oligarchy, it is a group of people running a country together. A similarity is that both of them are authoritarians, in where people have no say. Also, they only want their needs to be met and do not care about meeting other’s needs. Another similarity is that in both, minority rules over majority. A similarity is that both of them are sometimes not chosen directly by the people. They are usually wealthy which gives them some domain over the country. Finally, both of them have no oppositions. If they do, then that will eventually lead to a repress.

The main question that we have really focusing on is which one works better to meet the people’s needs. In my opinion, I think that a representative democracy is the best because it does have some weaknesses, however, I think that the strengths are really good. The first reason that I think is that in a representative democracy, it is not only one person to take care of them. I think that the checks and balances really helps out with that. Also, there is a punishment if corruption happens. So I think that it is good to have other people around to correct you. Also, I do not think that it could be a direct democracy because there is no one to correct the citizens. They do not know any better. Another reason that I think a representative democracy is best because I already eliminated dictatorship and oligarchy. I did that because both of them have no interest what so ever to help the people. They are just interested in themselves. So the only one left was a representative democracy, which I think is the best.

     Overall, this simulation really helped me learn, in a fun way! I really enjoyed these activities and hope to do something like this again. I think that just because of this I now feel like an expert! I really think I played my part. I helped a lot. I learned a lot. My goal was set and accomplished and I am very proud of myself and my team for winning. So for now, my battle is beat. I have won.