FinalIn Robert Dahl's book on democracy, there are five standards that a member of a democracy must meet to be considered politically equal. These are effective participation, equal voting, informed understanding, agenda control and adult inclusion. Before a policy is adopted, “all members must have equal and effective opportunities to make known their views on what the policy should be.” » (On Democracy p. 37) Or, each participant has a say in the creation of new policies. This is called effective participation. Equality of voting is when it is time to decide whether to implement a “each member shall have an equal and effective opportunity to vote” policy. (On Democracy p 37) Each member's vote is also counted equally, no vote means more than another vote. Each member must be given a reasonable amount of time to learn and understand the policies and their consequences. This is the definition of enlightened understanding. Controlling the agenda means that members have the opportunity to decide what issues are placed on the agenda and how they wish to place them. If members choose to change these policies, they may do so. Adult inclusion means that all legal adult perspectives are included in policy making. These criteria are the basis of democracy, because if one member does not follow one of these rules, the entire voting system for that given policy will fail. For example, one of the issues we are currently facing is the debate over electronic surveillance. As the most recent whistleblower, Edward Snowden, breathlessly put it, electronic surveillance "covers phone calls, emails, text messages, search history, what you buy, who is your friends, where you go, who you love.” ......middle of paper......one to make. In our country, I don't think we can fully realize his vision because of the size and diversity of our country. The only standard we currently have a problem with is electoral equality. With the addition of these new voter ID laws, not all Americans can vote, clearly going against the standards of voting equality. In order to solve his problem, I think the government should provide photo ID to everyone 18 years or older. This way, everyone has an equal chance of obtaining a valid photo ID. The only thing I would say about change is somehow get big business out of the White House. In my opinion, these companies and our government are destroying the "American Dream." For what? Because the middle and lower classes of this country strive to hold on to what little they have instead of working for more..