Citizen Democracy: Political Activists in a Cynical Age


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Apathy and antipathy toward politics are epidemic. Citizen Democracy provides the antidote. In this revised and updated edition, Stephen E. Frantzich portrays citizens from every walk of life--rich and poor, old and young, black and white, male and female, left and right, famous and obscure--as they choose to become involved in politics at a level to which readers can relate. Some of the stories contain unexpected twists. Candy Lightner, the founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, now works as a liquor industry lobbyist and argues that MAD has gone too far. College freshman Gregory Watson reacted to receiving a OCO on a political science paper by quitting school and becoming the driving force behind passage of a constitutional amendment that had been the subject of his paper. Two young women independently wrote letters of application to the U.S. Naval Academy and in the process moved military education in the direction of gender neutrality. Citizen Democracy shows ordinary people engaged in extraordinary civic activity. Their causes run the gamut from civil rights to flag burning, from the Internet to the environment--but their common cause is the fact that they creatively entered the arena of national public policy making and made a difference.

Review

Citizen Democracy provides a fascinating account of how ordinary citizens can become heroic, critical analysts of public policy through awareness, engagement, and participation. Frantzich challenges us to examine injustices in our own communities and inspires civic educators to do the same with their own students. Teachers will find this a useful manual for planning advocacy by sharing the real stories from the 'kidizens'—youth activists involved with democracy in their communities. (Marcie Taylor-Thoma)
Citizen Democracy provides a series of compelling stories which will motivate students to think about their potential as active citizens in a vibrant democracy. With the growing threat of cynicism, it is important to reinvigorate each new generation so they can play their role in maintaining the American experiment in self government. (Quigley, Charles N.)

About the Author
Stephen E. Frantzich is professor and chair of the Department of Political Science at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.


Tags: Democracy,Political Science, Political Ideologies

isbn:9780742529533, amazon:0742529533, google:Y21qzQEACAAJ