Alyssa Losoya

Mr. Gonzales
English III AP/DE- 1B
14 January 2015
Our Government Is Americas Cancer
Daniel J. Boorstin states that there is a major difference between dissent and
disagreement. He explains that dissent is when someone is participating in physical
violence and disagreement is simply disagreeing with another person, and nothing
further. He states this, in the year 1969, in his book, The Decline of Radicalism, although
I firmly disagree with Boorstin because of the past events in Americas history that can
falsify his statement, for example, the government shutdown that occurred in 2013,
prohibition, and the slavery/segregation that all took place in America.
Due to a disagreement within the United Sates Congress federal government in
2013, the Federal Government it was shut down from October 1st through the 16th. The
United States Republicans and Democrats could not agree on a spending plan for
Obamacare, a law that helps reform the American health care system, which led to
leaving federal coffers short. This caused many people to go without pay for many people
to not receive any paychecks for at least two weeks. It also stopped many people for
receiving their passports, federal loans, and even gun permits, etc. This disagreement was
much more than just disagreeing; it caused a number of American citizens to be upset and
have hatred towards the government for the lack of pay that they had worked for.
In the early 20th century a law was created that prevented the manufacturing and
sale of alcohol. This law was created because of the disagreement between prohibition
supporters, known as drys and anti-prohibitionist, known as wets. The wets saw this
ban as an attack on their daily lifestyle, while the dries saw it as a way for society to get

healthy and have a moral boost. This disagreement led to an uprising number of gangs
and a loss of tax revenue. Not to mention, every year that passed there was more loss of
support. The gangs that were created because of this disagreement would go on rampages
and would created riots that would ruin many buildings, streets, etc.
The 1900s is a century that had lots of segregation and slavery. Segregation was a
system created by the white Americans to keep African Americans separated from
everything they did. There was disagreement between white Americans and African
Americans; the white Americans thought that African Americans were non- worthy of
sharing the same things with them because of their skin color. Many African Americans
were more than upset because they realized how unfairly they were being treated. This
later on led to The Civil Right Movement.
Not every disagreement led to riots and uprising angry attitudes of citizens, but in
many cases it did. Disagreement does not always mean that you are only going to
disagree with that person, and nothing else takes place. Dissent does not always mean
that you have to be involved with physical harm, as Boorstin had stated.