Citizen Democracy: Political Activism in a Cynical AgeApathy 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 MADD 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. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 13 | |
| 22 | |
Chapter 03 Taking the Bus and Driving Public Policy for Us | 37 |
Chapter 04 Being a Good Sport or Wont You Be on My Team? | 46 |
Chapter 05 Lets Just Run That One Up the Flagpole | 56 |
A Pilots Checklist | 64 |
The Old Media Confronts the New Media | 69 |
Chapter 14 The Mystery of the Smoking Gun | 137 |
Chapter 15 Just What the Doctor Ordered | 148 |
Chapter 16 When Worlds Come Crashing Down | 158 |
Chapter 17 Unaffirmative Action | 165 |
Chapter 18 Do unto Others Dont Be a Tattletale | 178 |
Chapter 19 If You Cant Lick Em Enjoin Em | 183 |
Chapter 20 Oh My | 192 |
Chapter 21 Kidizen Democracy | 205 |
Making One MADD | 77 |
Chapter 09 Wouldnt You Just Love to Live Here? | 83 |
Chapter 10 Registering as a Protest or Ill Vote for That | 96 |
Introducing a New Breed | 107 |
Chapter 12 A Taxing and Revolting Job | 117 |
Women in the Military Academies | 128 |
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