On Monday(2/15), after finishing the speaking class, I met my friend, Abigail at the Commons. When we talked about “gun” last week, I was surprised that every state has some different laws, so we decided to talk about different laws in states in America. I didn’t have knowledge about the politics in America, so she explained easily to me. She explained that in America, government is a mix of two ideas; Democracy, where everyone votes and Republic, where a few people represent a lot of people. I was curious about the main differences between Democracy and Republic. She told me that in a real democracy, everyone votes about everything - really, everyone makes the law. And in a Republic, a few people make the law; they say they are acting for the people.

 She said that every state has different ideas, and that is where America is like a democracy. I thought every state has different ideas, so they make their laws what people who live the state want to make. She also gave me an example. She told me that only professional people can do fireworks. So we thought a lot of people in Virginia think that fireworks are not safe, so their leaders, who represent people, made a law that people cannot shoot fireworks in the yards. However, she said that South Carolina is different. I thought people there think that fireworks are okay because she said anyone can sell them or shoot them there. And she said their leaders say it is legal to do that - they chose not to pass the law. We also thought other examples. We thought that probably some of the main differences between state laws are about gambling. When I went to Las Vegas before, and I felt that the state allows to gamble more than others. She told me it’s true that some states allow more than other states, and she applied that on issues that are more personal, maybe, like driving or gambling or getting married, there are some laws about them, but they are different in every state, perhaps.

 She thought that the states have different laws because of the way the people think. Also because they pick who will be leaders, the leaders have to agree with what the people want, so their choices influence the state. I understood what she said and I agreed with her. To me, it was really interesting that every state can decide to make a different law in a same country. In Korea every city has same law, but America has much bigger society, so I thought that it’s good that every state has different laws, because they have their own standards. Also, I thought there are lots of people who have different ideas and opinions, so it’s good idea that they can make a rule which is suit for people who live the state. Because of the conversation with her, I could know many information about America, and I thought, I should learn much more about America.