So in debate class we have a game called the balloon game. Everyone picks any one person, alive or dead, but real, and argues why they should stay...

There are so many possible answers to this question!  Here are some possibilities.  I will focus on figures from Europe and America since those regions have dominated the world for most of the last 500 years.

• Jesus or Saint Paul.  Christianity has been one of the major forces in the world, particularly in Europe.  It helped to create Western civilization (which has dominated the world for the most part) and it helped bring about such things as the Age of Exploration.  We can credit Jesus with starting the religion or St. Paul since he was the main force that we know of behind the spread of the faith.


• Martin Luther.  Luther was one of the most important figures behind the Protestant Reformation.   The Reformation redrew the map of Europe and introduced religious conflict into that region.  These conflicts had a profound effect on the development of Europe.


• Karl Marx.  It is not clear that we can say that Marx’s influence on history has been positive, but it has been important.  Marx’s ideas gave rise to socialism and communism.  These ideologies brought about the Cold War and they helped to shape conflicts within industrialized societies.


• George Washington.  Washington was important for the major role he played in bringing about American independence.  Perhaps more importantly, he was instrumental in making the US a democracy.  By giving up the presidency and retiring, he helped ensure that the US would really be a democracy and not a country ruled by a series of strong men.  This was important because America’s democracy has helped to shape the world, particularly in the last 100 years or so.

There are any number of other people you could mention.  You could mention James Watt or Henry Ford as examples of people who drove industrialization in the Western world.  You could mention Abraham Lincoln for his role in keeping the US together and in ending slavery.  You could mention figures like Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, or Emmeline Pankhurst as people who led struggles for the rights of oppressed groups. Any of these would be defensible choices.  Who will you choose?