HW 30:Citizenship symposium 1

The first Symposium session that I attended was on Tuesday, November 6th. Provost Emile Netzhammer started the day off by talking about obligations of citizenship and how it is important for people from the community to get involved, through events such as town meetings. The main speaker of the event was Nancy Tobi; the title of the session was “Citizens Gone Wild.” She addressed the question of “what kind of democracy to we want?” Nancy definitely had an interesting background; she grew up in Lexington Massachusetts, also known as the birthplace of American liberty. The main part of her discussion and what I found most interesting was our government and how people run it. She questioned the actions of our government and the secrecy which voters actually have. She stated that she distrusts the act of “Checks and Balances” and that elections should be fully open and observable. The only secret in an election should be the voter’s ballot. “Government is the servant of the people and not the master of them” This quote was stated by Bev Harris and was mentioned numerous times throughout her speech. Nancy Tobi is an extremely concerned citizen and only wants what is right for the voters. She questions some of the motives of the government. This quote explains that the government should be catering to the people’s needs and wishes, not giving demands and telling them what to do. Tobi gave a very dominating and influential speech, it is important for people to be aware of what is going on with today’s government and to be involved as much as possible.