Chapter 5

1.)    I believe that the government does a fair amount to reduce the instances of racism, but could always do more.  We have affirmative action which was much needed at the time that they enacted it and still has some relevance today. I do believe however that affirmative action should be looked at and adjusted to the change in the times that has happened since it was enacted.  However I do not believe that there should even be a need for affirmative action.  Opportunities should be based off of qualifications and credentials not race, gender, or sexual orientation. 

2.)    The United States have made great strides towards eliminating gender discrimination.  Starting with the Women’s Suffrage Movement and gaining the right to vote women have rapidly gained ground towards equal standing with men.  Female troops are now mixed with male troops and it is becoming more and more common to find women holding high ranking positions within a company.  The only thing I could see the government doing further to ensure equal rights for women would be to do something to see that the pay that women receive in the work place be equal to their male counterparts that hold the same position as those women, because women still make significantly less than men in the work place.

3.)    I do not feel that government does anything really and definitely not enough to stop discrimination against the issue of sexual orientation.  It is still illegal in many states for same sex marriages is still illegal and homosexuals are discriminated against every day.  Since gay couples are not allowed to legally married they are denied over 1,000 rights that are granted to heterosexual married couples.  People say that marriage should be between a man and woman, and they believe this because of what their religion teaches them.  With that being said our government is supposed to practice separation of church and state and not let their religious beliefs influence their decision making in legislature. However many of our law makers do let the moral beliefs they hold due to their religion influence the judgment that they pass. Marriage Equality and discrimination against sexual orientations other than the one of straight, is equality issue not a religious one. Religion has no place in our government and this is a prime example of what happens when religion is allowed to influence laws. Thousands of American citizens’ civil rights are being impeded upon because religion is allowed to sway rulings concerning laws of equality. 

Commented on:

Megan Biggs http://megansgovblog.blogspot.com/

Nathan Tollett   http://www.tollettnr.blogspot.com/

Rebecca Zuchowski http://rebeccaroanestate.blogspot.com/

Chapter 4

1.)    Freedom of speech is one of the most important civil liberties that we as American Citizens have.  Our right to free speech gives us the ability to have our own opinions and beliefs and the ability to verbalize those beliefs.  Without this freedom we would not be able to protest or to make known our disagreement with not only our government but with anyone or any group of people.  We would not have the ability to publish literary works or articles that have political or social opinions in them regardless of how obvious.  Without freedom of speech we would be a mindless nation blindly following our leaders.  I do not believe that the freedom goes too far at all in fact in some instances I believe that the freedom doesn’t go far enough.  

2.)    I believe that separation of church and state should be practiced within our government. It is very important that a definite boundaries should be drawn between church and state and those boundaries not be crossed.  Legislature should strive to keep the boundaries of church and state separated although I do not feel as if they do in today’s time.  Our legislature are not supposed to let their religious beliefs influence their decision making when passing laws or debating legislature, but a good percentage of them do. For example gay marriage is still illegal in many states because our legislatures believe it to be immoral, and they believe it to be because of the beliefs they have due to their religious doctrine. Thousands of American citizens are having the civil liberties impeded upon because of our legislature members let their religion influence them when passing laws.  Marriage equality is not a religious issue, or at least it shouldn’t be, it’s an equality issue.  Government also should not make do anything to mandate or favor another religion. Religion has no place in government just as government has no place in religion. How can say we truly have freedom of religion when our government allows beliefs from one certain religion to influence our government? How can we say that every American citizen is free and has equal civil rights when thousands of them are not granted the basic liberties of a heterosexual member of society because our elected official’s religious convictions influence the law making process?       

3.)    Defendant rights and liberties are very crucial to our country.  Without these rights none of us would have the right to a fair and speedy trial by a jury of our peers, the right to representation, and also are protected from unlawful search and seizure.  These are all very important rights not only to defendants but to us as citizens who might be future defendants.  The right to representation is very crucial because this right provides a defendant with a lawyer even if they themselves cannot afford one. 

Commented on:

Rebecca Zuchowski http://rebeccaroanestate.blogspot.com

Nathan Tollett http://www.tollettnr.blogspot.com

Brittany McCann http://www.blogger.com/profile/01251942396297317954

Chapter 3

1.)    I most definitely support a strong national government. While the national government should not have all the power I believe that the majority of power should lie with them without a strong national government and with the states being the main government each state would only be interested in the needs or the best interest of their state and not as the country as a whole.  For example the issues of equality, war, and other issues that affect our nation as a whole and not just individual states,  should be handled by the national government and not be left for individual states to govern for their own individual standpoints on the issue.  All that would cause would be a house divided.

2.)    When the Great Depression began American citizens wanted the national government to aid and fix the economy.  National centered federalism strengthened a great deal during this time period in an attempt to save the struggling economy.  Roosevelt after his inauguration in 1933 along with the aid of congress started to pass a series of laws designed to help the economy grow.  However the Supreme Court ruled that congress did not have the power to pass these laws and Roosevelt saw his New Deal slowly falling. He then enacted the court packing plan, a proposal to add justices to the Supreme Court so that the Court would uphold his policies; however, after the proposal of this plan, the court reversed itself and started accepting the New Deal policies.  Under the administration of Ronald Reagan the shift of power began to return back to the states. I believe that it was necessary at the time of the Depression to have a strong national government because the depression was a national problem that could only be fixed with a strong national government.  After the healing took place and our economy was once again stable, the power rightly shifted back to being the federal system America had successfully operated under for centuries. 

3.)    I believe that education should be regulated and monitored by the national government and not state governments.  I believe this because if we allow state and local governments to regulate or set the standard for education there might be a higher standard set in another state making the children of that state better educated than the state with lower education standards. So, I believe that it is better for education standards to be set by national government so that the educational value is the same across the board and one states children does not have an advantage over another. 

Commented on:
1.)Nathan Tollett http://tollettnr.blogspot.com/
2.)Rebecca Zuchowski http://rebeccaroanestate.blogspot.com
3.)Megan Biggs http://megansgovblog.blogspot.com

Chapter 2

1.) The Constitution is much more efficient and better serves our needs of a country as a whole better than the Articles did.   The Articles presented many issues where as the Constitution has a solution for all of those issues.  The articles of the Confederation gave most powers to centralized state government leaving the national government with very little power.  The Constitution called for a bicameral congress giving us the House of Representatives and the Senate.  With the Constitution we also gained separation of powers which gave us our three branches of government and also put into place a system of checks and balances so that each branch had to go through the other to prevent any unconstitutional acts. 

2.) After reading the first three articles of the Constitution that gives us our three branches of government I learned a few things about those three branches that I didn’t know before reading the articles.  For example in the third article, which defines our justice system and the Supreme Courts, deals with the 11^th Amendment.  The 11^th Amendment limits the power of the federal courts to hear lawsuits against state governments brought by the citizens of another state or the citizens of a foreign country.  For example, Tennessee could use the 11^th Amendment to protect itself from being sued by its citizens, residents of another state, residents of a foreign country, or the government of a foreign country.

3.) Marbury V. Madison had a huge impact on American history.  Marbury was appointed to be the Justice of the Peace for the District of Columbia by John Adams. However the Jeffersonian administration ruled that his appointment was invalid because in the last hours of Adams’ administration the Secretary of State forgot to deliver the commission.  When Thomas Jefferson’s term started as president his Secretary of State refused to deliver the commission holding Marbury back from claiming his title.  Marbury took his case to the Supreme Court believing that the Judiciary act of 1789 allowed the court to hear original cases involving writs of mandamus, which are orders to government officials to undertake specific acts. However the Court declared that the Constitution must reign supreme over the law so that the Judiciary Act of 1789 and that this act conflicted with the Constitution concerning the area that granted the Supreme Court original jurisdiction.  Ultimately the Courts would not mandate that the new Secretary of State give Marbury his previously promised post.  The Courts did however grant itself the authority of judicial review, which was huge power to gain and a very useful and necessary tool.   This gave them the power to strike down laws passed by Congress on the the grounds that those laws violate the Constitution. 

4.) Looking at our government today I would say that we operate more of the way Federalists viewed government rather than the Antifederalists.  Federal law trumps local or state laws in today’s government which is the way that the Federalists believed that it should be, the Anitfederalists disagreed with this practice. We also still operate and hold the Constitutional law above all else. The Federalists agreed with and supported this Constitution when Antifederalists did not.