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Framework of Government: Exercise 2 - Core democratic values
Instructions:
Read the passage and click on the correct answer. If wrong, try
again. Scroll down if you do not see the Answer box. Click
here to review the key terms for this exercise.
Democracy is a form of government in which all citizens are able to
participate in the process of making governmental decisions. A democratic
government also guarantees citizens certain basic rights, such as
freedom of speech. This type of government is based on the following
four core (basic) values:
popular sovereignty: the idea that people are
able to govern themselves.
political freedom: the idea that people can
express their preferences free from government control.
political equality: the idea that everyone
has the right to participate in politics and that everyone's participation
has equal value.
majority rule: the idea that government decisions
should be based on the desires of more than half of the people
but without ignoring the rights of any minorities (groups smaller
than the majority).
These core values are important because they form the foundation of
democracy. They are the beliefs democracy is built on. Furthermore,
these values are interrelated (connected). If people want to govern
themselves, they need to have political freedom to express their preferences
(what they want), and they need to have the right to participate equally
in politics. If the government wants to make policy (take action)
based on the concerns of the majority of the people, it needs to know
what those concerns are, and it needs to consider each concern or
interest equally. Because these values are interdependent, the use
of one of these values by itself does not make a government democratic.
Therefore, in a democratic government, all of these values must guide
both the process of governmental decision-making and the outcome of
those decisions.
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Instructions:
Read the passage and click on the correct answer. If wrong, try
again. Scroll down if you do not see the Answer box. 
