Freedom of Speech
Considering that this civil liberty has held it's importance through time of trials and tribulations I consider it to be important. It is a liberty that cannot be taken away and can be stood upon by any American in the United States. The freedom can be taken too far, yes. I think some people push this liberty to its limits because its such a well known Constitutional right. Most think it means the right to say anything no matter what and under any circumstances.
I think all Speech should be protected because everyone should be allowed to say whatever they want and state their opinion however there also should be restrictions on them in certain places.
Freedom of Religion
I'm not so sure if there is a separation of the church and state. To me they are almost the same things with different relations of course because a person's belief makes a church. Wasn't the Constitution and the adopted rights after that about people's belief's as well? It seems the only separation there is between the two is that the church doesn't have the power to "make people abide by the rules".
Criminal Procedure
A defendant's rights are all one has against being treated wrongfully or unfair. Sometimes just being a defendant doesn't mean a state of being guilty. So one's rights are they have to stand on pending they need them, and if they are then the right's will also punish them. There is a good in bad in systems and the ability to decide what is good and bad should be relied on by the right's of every defendant.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Chapter 3
The powers should be shared to keep the balance leveled because the two governments have different responsibilities that cover different layers of authority and while keeping them separate make them very much in need of the the other. Thus, one keeps the other from overpowering the other and maintaining and equal balance.
National power increased during the Great Depression because the stock market crashed in 1929 and the people wanted national action to help aid the economy thus when the market began to pick up and grow around the time of Nixon's administration a few things took place and changed the way the money was handled and/or distributed. Such things as New Federalism shifting powers back to the states then when Reagan took office in 1981 he sought to reduce the power of government because he was a strong supporter of New Federalism. He cut grants replacing them with flexible block grants that set fewer restrictions on how the money could be spent. He also implemented general revenue sharing which gave monies to the states and could be spent however the states decided to spend it. Reagan's Chief Justice, William Rehnquist also put together pro-state majorities in two series of decisions interstate commerce and sovereign immunity. The commerce clause basically enforced the equal protection of the laws under the 14th Amendment, while the sovereign immunities basically limited national authority over the states to keep states from suing a different state in federal court. Also implementing several different federal labor laws to balanced what was know known as the New Deal.
The regulation of Education should be left just the way it is now, because as the passage from the text Gateways to Democracy, states "Federal Aid to the states is influenced by a large number of factors, including equal representation in the Senate." Basically this means the national government would balance out the disproportionate amount of aid between small and large states. So this to me a very fair way to regulate education.
National power increased during the Great Depression because the stock market crashed in 1929 and the people wanted national action to help aid the economy thus when the market began to pick up and grow around the time of Nixon's administration a few things took place and changed the way the money was handled and/or distributed. Such things as New Federalism shifting powers back to the states then when Reagan took office in 1981 he sought to reduce the power of government because he was a strong supporter of New Federalism. He cut grants replacing them with flexible block grants that set fewer restrictions on how the money could be spent. He also implemented general revenue sharing which gave monies to the states and could be spent however the states decided to spend it. Reagan's Chief Justice, William Rehnquist also put together pro-state majorities in two series of decisions interstate commerce and sovereign immunity. The commerce clause basically enforced the equal protection of the laws under the 14th Amendment, while the sovereign immunities basically limited national authority over the states to keep states from suing a different state in federal court. Also implementing several different federal labor laws to balanced what was know known as the New Deal.
The regulation of Education should be left just the way it is now, because as the passage from the text Gateways to Democracy, states "Federal Aid to the states is influenced by a large number of factors, including equal representation in the Senate." Basically this means the national government would balance out the disproportionate amount of aid between small and large states. So this to me a very fair way to regulate education.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Chapter 2
The Articles of Confederation was the very first set of laws the people had from 1781 - 1788. They weren't really laws but more like "powers" granted and extremely limited. These set of powers also made governing difficult and lacked any taxing authority. These Articles had many deficiencies that led to predictable problems.
In 1787 The Constitutional Convention met to revise The Articles and ended up proposing an entirely new constitution all together. The Constitution would take among the states that approved it when ratified by nine of the thirteen states. The Articles had required unanimity of state delegations for amendment, but the Constitutional Convention sought out approval from a higher authority, the people of The United States. Thus, the Constitution gave rights to the people to institute new government in the name of "We the People of The United States."
The Bill of Rights are the first ten Amendments of The Constitution and the provide basic political rights to every person in The United States of America. The Rights gave the people rights that Congress could not take away, such as freedom of speech or religion.
My response to the reading in Gateways to Democracy is simply this, there must of been some sort of conflicting thoughts in Congress towards Capital Punishment otherwise they would have never put a halt on it for review. I personally feel that Capital Punishment is a violation to The Constitution and should not be allowed. Being from a Christian background myself, I believe in forgiveness and that Jesus says to forgive those who do wrong to you and/or others. I do not feel that people who commit serious crimes such as rape, murder and child pornography should be let free to re-commit they should serve the rest of their life in prison and made think about the crime they committed.
The thing about Capital Punishment is that not everyone has the same set of rules, at least that is the way it appears to me, because they're people who have been executed under the Capital Punishment law(s) and they're people that still remain in prison for committing the same identical crime. Thus, to me Capital Punishment is cruel and unfair punishment simply stating this: To put one to death for a crime is inhuman no matter how that person has reacted and then letting another person who has been convicted of the same sort of crime remain locked away in prison for life is just unfair and a violation of Human Rights, period.
In 1787 The Constitutional Convention met to revise The Articles and ended up proposing an entirely new constitution all together. The Constitution would take among the states that approved it when ratified by nine of the thirteen states. The Articles had required unanimity of state delegations for amendment, but the Constitutional Convention sought out approval from a higher authority, the people of The United States. Thus, the Constitution gave rights to the people to institute new government in the name of "We the People of The United States."
The Bill of Rights are the first ten Amendments of The Constitution and the provide basic political rights to every person in The United States of America. The Rights gave the people rights that Congress could not take away, such as freedom of speech or religion.
My response to the reading in Gateways to Democracy is simply this, there must of been some sort of conflicting thoughts in Congress towards Capital Punishment otherwise they would have never put a halt on it for review. I personally feel that Capital Punishment is a violation to The Constitution and should not be allowed. Being from a Christian background myself, I believe in forgiveness and that Jesus says to forgive those who do wrong to you and/or others. I do not feel that people who commit serious crimes such as rape, murder and child pornography should be let free to re-commit they should serve the rest of their life in prison and made think about the crime they committed.
The thing about Capital Punishment is that not everyone has the same set of rules, at least that is the way it appears to me, because they're people who have been executed under the Capital Punishment law(s) and they're people that still remain in prison for committing the same identical crime. Thus, to me Capital Punishment is cruel and unfair punishment simply stating this: To put one to death for a crime is inhuman no matter how that person has reacted and then letting another person who has been convicted of the same sort of crime remain locked away in prison for life is just unfair and a violation of Human Rights, period.
Friday, September 2, 2011
American Government Blog 1 Assignment
I feel most Americans do take Democracy for granted, because they do not participate in the voting. To be a "pure" democratic country all people most take part in the elections and have a voice. However, most Americans do not vote they sit on their couches and complain about how the country is being run but still yet they will not register to vote, go to the polls, or cast their vote. They sit around moaning and complaining and want everything done for them that is the way of us Americans, we are so spoiled we expect everything to be done with little or no help from our self, and things to be done right. When things do not go the way we expect them to, we cry about it and blame everyone we can and find every reason wrong for why it didn't go right.
Separation of Power is very important thus to keep the laws organized and controlled also it adds structure to the responsibility to each branch of government so that one does not over run the other.
I will have to say I am mostly populists because if more people would adhere to traditional moral values, well isn't that what America was founded on to begin with?
:)
Separation of Power is very important thus to keep the laws organized and controlled also it adds structure to the responsibility to each branch of government so that one does not over run the other.
I will have to say I am mostly populists because if more people would adhere to traditional moral values, well isn't that what America was founded on to begin with?
:)
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