4) Democratic Participation

• Opportunity 1 - Protesting/Freedom of speech

  P - Citizens can successfully influence decision making by protesting and right to freedom of speech

  E - Protected by the first amendment and constitution. Freedom of speech gives americans chance to express themselves without government interference. Citizens can freely speak out against actions of govt or something they disagree with without fear of mistreatment.

  E - 2020 - after George Floyd murder, citizens used BLM movement to show outrage at unjust treatment of AA by protesting

  A - US citizens have freedom to take stand about unjust situations and can legally and peacefully express anger.
• Opportunity 1 (Rebuttal) - Violent Protests

  P - Citizens are unable to influence government when protests turn violent.

  E - Right to protests is not an absolute right - protests must be peaceful. In case of BLM, protests began peaceful with several staying peaceful however in many cases they turned violent - clashed with police, set police cars on fire, vandalised property or looted shops. Led to national guards being deployed.

  E - 2020 - when protests turned violent trump sent thousands of national guard troops to washington DC to mobilize against protestors.

  A - When protests turn violent it limits the impact citizens have and the message they try to get across becomes ignored or undermined.
• Opportunity 2 - Voting

  P - Citizens can influence decision making by voting. Most see voting as best way for citizens to make impact on direction of country.

  E - If you are 18 and a US citizen you can vote in federal and local elections. Over 1 million elected posts in USA giving opportunity for citizens voices to be heard. By voting you help decide who will hold power and matter critical decisions. Voting can hold elected officials accountable.

  E - 4 in 10 US adults say voting is an effective or very effective way to change the country.

  A - with 3/4 of citizens believe voting provides them with effective way to incite change, it is effective.
• Opportunity 2 (Rebuttal) - Voter Restrictions

  P - Long standing barriers to voter registration made it difficult to close these gaps.

  E - Restrictive voter ID requirements disproportionately affect many eligible voters of colour creating systematice barriers. Many states require additional documents to prove eligibility such as passport and birth certificate. Low income voters twice as likely to lack documents as they have lower income than Asians and Whites. Language barrier is an issue for Hispanics.

  E - 2022 - 58% of hispanics registered to votes compared to 71% of whites.

  A - Significant gap between ethnic group due to barrier in voter registration - whites 13% more likely to be registered than hispanics.