Creative expression is imperative to ensure that democracy

A society’s creative expression is imperative to ensure that democracy is run not only by the people but for the people.

First main point: A democracy is one where we hold power and hold the government accountable for their actions, especially ones of injustice. This accountability is often reinforced through creative expressions such as poetry, music, or even art that act as the active participation of a democracy’s citizens to protect human rights.

Support: “ We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace, and the norms and notions of what just is aren’t always justice.”

Second main point: More often than not, the fate of our country’s history has been greatly impacted by the creative expression of one man or woman in some form or another of art.

Support: A great example is Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. In his speech, he said, “In a sense, we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” His speech is widely regarded as the turning point for the Civil Rights movement, and its trajectory was imperative to the abolishment of slavery.