West WIng Episode

8-10 Connections:

1. Executive Branch is appointing a new Supreme Court Justice, which shows checks and balances.

2. The Justice was selected instead of being voted on

3. They referenced Roe v. Wade, which is the court case that said the right to choose an abortion was protected by the Constitution.

4. The President chose someone from his party for the Supreme Court Justice

5. The Senate must approve the candidate

6. Marriage is an enumerated power

7. People have the right to privacy

8. People's history can cause controversy

5 Questions:

1. Is it common to ask a judge to retire?

2. How long does it take to find replacements?

3. Does a president ever not choose someone from his party?

4. Is it Constitutional to ask someone to resign?

5. Is having a moderate judge thought of as a bad thing?

Federalist #78

Quotes:


1. "The standard of good behavior for the continuance in office of the judicial magistracy is certainly one of the most valuable of the modern improvements in the practice of government." This quote shows why it is important for Supreme Court Justices to serve for life. 


2. "Hence it is, that there can be but few men in the society who will have sufficient skill in the laws to qualify them for the stations of judges." Shows that a judge's job is important and it takes a lot of skill to be qualified to have such an important job as a judge.


3. "It may truly be said to have neither FORCE nor Will , but merely judgement; and must ultimately depend upon the aid of the executive arm even for the efficacy of its judgements." Explains that the Judiciary Branch can only make judgements based on the law and not based on any other factors, such as money.


4. "A constitution is, in fact, and must be regarded by the judges, as a fundamental law. It therefore belongs to them to ascertain its meaning, as well as the meaning of any particular act proceeding from the legislative body." The Constitution is very important to judges because it lays out the laws and shows them rules to abide by.


5. "They ought to regulate their decisions by the fundamental laws, rather than by those which are not fundamental." Judges must make decisions based on law and not by other personal beliefs.


Questions:


1. How much of an effect does a judge's political ideology have on his/her decisions?
2. Will the Judiciary Branch ever become more powerful?
3. Is the Judiciary Branch running how you expected it to in the present day?
4. Do you still think Supreme Court Justices should be appointed for life?
5. What would you change about the Judiciary Branch today?

2000 Election Reading #2

8-10 Facts Learned:

1. The Supreme Court voted with a majority vote of 5-4 to stop the recount

2. Was decided in the Rehnquist Court

3. On December 8th, the Florida Supreme Court declared that a manual recount was required by law.

4. Bush vs. Gore was the 4th intervention by the Supreme Court

5. Ballots differ from county to county

6. In the 1960s and 70s there was an effort to use the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause to ensure more rule-bound decisions.

7. The decision lacked any basis in precedent

8. Poor countries have old machinery that successfully counts 97% of votes.

Post-Reading Questions:

1. What is the risk with minimalism?

2. Why aren't all voting cards the same?

3. Are the machines more accurate now?

4. How are people selected to count ballots?

5. How will we prevent what happened in this election from occurring again?

The Common Good

     After reading the article, I felt that reaching the common goal would be unrealistic. Everyone has different opinions, so to reach it worldwide would be almost impossible given that everyone in the world has conflicting view points. The idea that something would benefit everyone sounds like it would be a good idea. However, since everyone is different and has such different opinions there is no way for something to benefit every single person. When the article mentioned the idea of affordable health care, it already showed that there would be controversy and, therefore, would not benefit everyone. The idea would not work because there are such conflicting viewpoints regarding health care systems that any plan set up would not please everyone. Also, everyone is competitive towards one another and always has their best interests at heart. So, even though people may really want to help others, chances are they would be more likely to want plans that would benefit themselves. Therefore, the common good is an idea that sounds great, but in reality would probably not work.

Politician Update #2

Robert Andrews has represented the 1st Congressional District of New Jersey 1989. He's on the House Committee on Armed Services and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. He has sponsored 561 bills since January 3, 1991, but 554 haven't made it out of committee. Two of these bills were successfully enacted.

2000 Election Movie

Questions:

1. Why does it take so long to recount the votes?
2. Why isn't there a close election in most election?
3. How close does an election have to be in order for there to be a recount?
4. Was it ever this close before this election?
5. Why wouldn't dimple chads be counted?
6. What is the butterfly ballot?
7.  Is this movie accurate?
8. If everything was recounted could AL Gore have actually won?

Facts:

1. 20,000 voters were disqualified
2. Bush beat Gore by approximately 3%
3. Katharine Harris was the Secretary of State of Florida
4. Bush ended up winning Florida
5. The Supreme Court ruled to stop the recount 5-4
6. Florida has 25 electoral votes
7. Only a few counties were given recounts
8. The full recount would have taken more than six days to complete

Health Care Post #2

     While researching the topic of healthcare I have come to the conclusion that people who are unemployed do deserve a system in which they are given health care. Everyone, no matter how much money they have, deserves access to health care. They should be able to afford health care when they really need it and deserve the chance to stay healthy. It may mean high taxes for everyone, but it would be worth it to keep the country healthy and award everyone the opportunity to have affordable health care. I do not think, however, that there should be a law requiring all US citizens to have health insurance. People who are simply lazy or just do not want health insurance can choose not to have it. Health insurance should not be required for everyone it should just be an option open to whoever wants to take it.

2000 Election Reading

5 Pre-Reading Questions:

1. Why were deadlines made that were so unrealistic?
2. How close does an election need to be in order to have a recount?
3. Have there been any other situations similar to this in the past?
4. How often do recounts happen?
5. Why wouldn't they change the deadline so the full recount could have happened?

5 Facts/ Details:

1. Florida uses different methods for collecting votes
2. The deadlines did not give enough time for all votes to be fully recounted
3. 20,000 voters were disqualified
4. The Supreme Court vote for stopping the recount was a 5-4 majority vote
5. Gore was only 4 votes short of the necessary 270 electoral votes

5 Post-Reading Questions:

1. Should they have continued the recount?
2. Was that the closest an election has ever been?
3. Do you think Al Gore could have won if the full recount was done?
4. How could the chaos have been avoided?
5. Are the voting systems in this country truly reliable?

Health Care Post #1

      One major issue in the United States right now is health care. The economy is suffering and many people are without jobs and, therefore, not enough money. They cannot afford health care because it is so expensive. This does not seem fair to me. No one can function or do what they need to in life if they are not healthy and doctors visits are vital components to staying healthy. However, without insurance, doctors visits can be very expensive. The people who cannot afford to pay for it are also probably unable to pay huge doctors bill. Therefore, they are left unable to pay for any kind of health treatments.
      One solution that is thrown around is the idea of insisting that everyone buy health insurance. This scenario seems very unfair to me as well. This is because health care would then be  government-funded. Doctors would be forced to cater to the schedules and necessities of the government rather than the patients. There would also be many more patients, resulting in less effort by the doctors since they would have so much less time to spend with each individual patient.
      Therefore, health insurance is currently a heated topic in the United States. It is not healthy to remain without insurance, as millions of US citizens are currently doing. However, requiring everyone to buy health insurance would only lead to less flexible time schedules and poor quality work. Also, if we had free health care, it would not actually be free.

Politician Update

Bob Casey has been a Senator since 2007. He has sponsored 174 bills, although none were successfully enacted. During the same time, he also cosponsored 733 bills. Some of his more recently sponsored bills include the Fallen Heroes of 9/11 act, Children's Hospital GME Support Reauthorization act of 2011, Computer Science Education Act of 2011 and National Opportunity and Community Renewal Act. He is also the Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee.

Faction

James Madison describes a faction as "a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community." In other words, Madison sees factions as a possible problem for the United States and views them negatively. He thinks they could be harmful to the well-being of the country.

My definition: A group of people who join together because of a common interest.

1. Are the political parties factions?
2. Are factions controlled today or still a cause for concern?
3. Are there any scenarios in which factions would be okay?
4. How badly would our country be affected if a faction became too powerful?

Today, some factions could be the political parties. People in a political party are bonded together by common goals and interests, but could still have some conflicting ideas.

Political Ideology

My result from the survey was moderate liberal. It says I mostly agree with the views of the Democratic Party, but may also be interested in the Green Party.

Congress Members

Bob Casey- Pennsylvania Senator, Democrat

Robert Andrews- 1st Congressional District of NJ, Democrat

Response to Constitution Questions

Christina asked: While writing the Constitution, did the Founding Fathers want to limit the actions of the government or to protect people's basic rights?

I think the Founding Fathers were looking to do both. While protecting people's basic rights was certainly a main goal, the Founding Fathers were probably trying to make sure the government would not be too powerful. They probably tried to find a balance between giving government power and giving people rights.

Nataley asked: Some people say there shouldn't be a constitution, but wouldn't that create confusion?


I think it definitely would cause confusion. Even though there may be certain parts of the Constitution people do not agree with, the Constitution definitely sets boundaries that we need in order for our country to function well. 

Democracy in America

Facts:

1. At first the national BAC limit for driving was 1.0
2. The BAC level got changed to .08
3. 40% of deaths on highways are because of drunk drivers
4. There are 3 different levels of government
5. All powers not granted to the federal government are reserved for the state
6. The federal government can always out rule the state's government
7. South Carolina did not want to establish a law where a breathalyzer is needed
8. The number of single parents increased in the 1990's
9. Everyone must follow the endangered species act
10. States are in charge of their own welfare policies

Questions:

1. Why was South Carolina against setting rules for DUI's?
2. Where did they come up with 1.0 BAC level?
3. Is nationalism decreasing with the increase of state power?
4. Will schools eventually be nationalized?
5. Which crimes are federal issues?
6. Why didn't Idaho want wolves to come in?
7. Why is Mississippi such a poor state?
8. Which States have good welfare systems?
9. Why does welfare differ between states?
10. Would education be better or worse if schools were nationalized?

Federalist #10

questions:


1. How can factions control the government?
2. How can you ever satisfy everyone's opinion if everyone is individual?
3. Why do you support a stronger central government?
4. Is diversity always a good thing?
5. Can there be too many factions?


quotes:


1. "Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires."
Since a faction is a group in power they are saying in order to have liberty, we must also have a strong government to keep the country in order.


2."But the most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property."
He believes unequal distribution of power has been the biggest problem impacting factions.


3. "No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause; because his interest would certainly bias his judgment, and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity."
We shouldn't judge ourselves because our viewpoints make us bias to causes we care about. We need others to help us out.


4. "The public is disregarded in the conflicts of the rival parties."
It seems as if the parties get too wrapped up in arguing with one another that they lose interest in the real goal which is the well-being of the country.


5. "By enlarging too much the number of electors, you render the representatives too little acquainted with all their local circumstances and lesser interests."
Instead of focusing on issues that are most important to you, focus on the ones that are most important to the country as a whole. 

Federalist #51

Questions for James Madison:

1. How would government work if there weren't three branches?
2.  Why are checks and balances so important?
3. Could a government work without checks and balances?
4. How does the government reflect human nature?
5. Why was it important to have three branches of government?

quotes

1. "It is equally evident, that the members of each department should be as little dependent as possible on those of the others, for the emoluments annexed to their offices."
I picked this quote because I agree with it. If the branches all relied on each other nothing would be accomplished. As is true with anything, independence is needed for goals to be achieved.


2. "It is evident that each department should have a will of it's own."
This is saying how each branch needs to form its own opinions and do what they really believe is right for the country.


3. "If a majority be united by a common interest, the rights of the minority will be insecure."

I picked this quote because it is saying how the majority usually gets what they want because they can override the minority. The minority needs are a lot of times forgotten and that could be very harmful to our country. 

4. "Every branch needs to learn to stand alone and be able to operate alone."
If the branches are too dependent on each other that could cause one to have more power than the rest. Also, if a branch is not independent enough, that branch will be too influenced by the other branches.


5. "You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself."
Before the government controls people, the government must also be under control.

political cartoon 2

1. Do you think it's fair that immigrants need to pass a citizenship test when some American's don't know the answers to some of the questions?
2. Do you think many immigrants know more about American history than citizens born in the US do?
3. Do you think it's important for all US citizens to know American history?

separation of powers simile

The separation of powers and checks and balances are like a computer and a mouse. Neither works well without the other and they both need to rely on each other in order to work best.