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Eventually though, as demonstrated by the Roman Empire, a civilization can grow too large for its entire people to gather in a common place or take part in the rhetoric. In preserving the concept of effective participation in the face of a large chaotic public, a concept known as representative government became necessary. A representative government is sustained through free and fair elections (Dahl, 38). In such an election, it is necessary for all adults to be able to vote for a representative to participate in a smaller and often more organized gathering to express the concerns of the people and decide on the laws of the society. This does not necessarily have to undermine the practice of communal gatherings in local matters, the active participation in ones local community is the foundation on which a larger scale democracy is built. Different societies have different specific rules and systems in which elections are carried out and the term-lengths and positions that the politicians serve, but in order to be a democracy they must preserve the representative rights of the majority of the people in that society. This requires an informed and enlightened public (Dahl, 38). .
An educated public is key in the growth and vitality of a democracy. The people must be informed of the issues at hand, the different points of view concerning the issue, and possible consequences of each option, as well as the positions of the prospective candidates prior to a vote on the issue. This, along with inclusive voting rights, ensures the effectiveness of effective participation. It is one of the jobs of the representatives, or politicians, to help inform the public in a representative system. This education also empowers the people and stabilizes the democracy making it less likely to collapse or fall prey to the power of a dictatorship as the result of a single group gaining too much power.
