TOLFA Segment 12, Question 5

Government schools entered the American scene because of a deadly combination of religion and politics; neither could have sufficed on its own. What does the story tell us about democracy?

The idea that "people rule" is yet another government myth. In not one of the stages of this story - the Calvinist precedent setting, the Unitarian politicking, the xenophobic coup de grace, were "the people" even consulted, let alone allowed to implement a majority view - and even if they had, a majority view still violates the self-ownership of dissenters.
The Unitarian-Owenite alliance set out expressly to re-shape human nature. That is directly opposed even to the myth, that "the will of the people" is to be carried out! Democracy is therefore just one more way to over-rule individual sovereignty.
Once a framework of rule is established (a government structure) decisions will get made by those who, like Mann, work hardest to manipulate that system.
All of the above.
None of the above; the story proves that democracy needed then and needs now to be implemented properly, so that decisions are truly made by all the people instead of by special-interest factions trying to cheat the system.

Don't hurry away; even when you've got the right answer, try clicking on the others to see why they are wrong! Then when you have correctly answered this make notes in your student notebook, go to Question 6.

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