Research Proposal on "Democracy or Monarchy), All Governments"

Research Proposal 5 pages (2058 words) Sources: 0

[EXCERPT] . . . .

democracy or monarchy), all Governments have (5) primary missions: (a) national security, (b) internal security, - public goods and services, (d) socialization of the young and (e) raising money. Fully explain your understanding of each purpose of government and give examples of each.

National security refers to the security of the nation, and is concerned with both civil defense and emergency preparedness measures. National security strives to protect a country's infrastructure, generally from outside threats, but it can protect it from inside threats as well as from national disasters. The Department of Homeland Security is devoted to national security concerns in the United States. Internal security is concerned with maintaining security within a country and focuses on the enforcement of a country's laws. In the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigations is the department most associated with internal security, and it has the power to assist smaller government units with crime investigation and enforcement. Public goods and services refers to those things provided to all of the people for their use by the government. From an economic standpoint, a good is only a public good if it is non-rivaled and non-excludable, meaning that one person's consumption of the good does not deprive another of the good everyone is entitled to use the good. One example of a public good would be a standing military, which protects all people in the nation, regardless of whether or not they contribute to or participate in the military. In a political context, socialization of the young refers to the political socialization of young people. This can include party affiliation and other core beliefs, but in a nation like the United States, is likely to include being exposed to political views that are elevated to the status of ideals, such as the inalienable rights of man. One way that the young are politically socialized in America is the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance before beginning school each day. Raising money refers to the government's ability to raise money to fund its programs. Before the institution of the income Tax, which is probably technically an unconstitutional practice, the federal government raised money through bonds and other marketable means, and provided a far lesser amount of services. Now the federal income tax is the country's most significant means of raising money.

Policy makers make public policy through the process of politics. Fully explain the meaning of policy and politics. Using the understanding of what is meant by "public policy" give (3) examples in the context of any of the missions of government listed in Question # 1.

Public policy refers to a government's position and actions on specific issues. Public policy refers to actions as well as actions, and encompasses the entire range in which the government can choose to support or oppose a particular issue. Ostensibly, policy makers make public policy through politics, because elected representatives are chosen to enforce the majority opinion about those issues. When and if policy makers fail to enforce the nation's actual ideals, they may be replaced in the next election cycle. This theory of public policy has become less descriptive of the American political scene in the past several years, as voting percentages have declined and the complexity of the political environment has left many voters unable to understand many issues of public policy. However, public policy still applies in many areas. For national security, public policy post-911 encouraged the strict enforcement of immigration laws because of concerns that terrorists could be in the United States illegally. Internal security supports the use of the FBI to solve crimes, such as serial murders, where local law enforcement agencies lack the resources to do so. Public policy most notably impacts how money is raised, since people who make less money are taxed at a lower rate than people making more money.

The concept of "Natural Law" was relied upon by the founders of this Country to justify the Revolutionary War. Explain the (3) components of Natural Law and how they allegedly rendered the Revolution "legal."

According to the Declaration of Independence, the three components of natural law include the right to life, the right to liberty, and the right to the pursuit of happiness. Furthermore, the founders believed that governments derived their powers from those who are governed. Therefore, if a government failed to respect the three components of natural law, then the governed had the right to alter or abolish that government. In fact, the founders assert that it is man's duty to throw off a government when it becomes despotism. After making that point, Jefferson lists the ways in which King George has usurped the natural law, supporting the thesis that King George's monarchy has become an absolute despotism. Therefore, while the Revolution may have violated King George's laws, the assertion was that the Revolution was dictated by natural law.

Two primary goals of the Framers of the Constitution were to insure against a monarchy by: (a) providing that the government could not be controlled by a simple majority and (b) by decentralizing the government to avoid a monarchy. Fully explain the concepts of: (a) representative democracy vs. A pure democracy, (b) separation of powers and - checks and balances, as each of these ideas were embodied in the Constitution. Also explain how these goals relate to the two primary goals of the Framers as immediately expressed above.

A representative democracy involves elected individuals representing the people. A pure democracy involves all citizens voting on each issue. A pure democracy would permit a bare majority to impose their will upon the country, which the founders feared. While it is still possible for the majority to violate minority rights in a representative democracy, the safeguard is that generally it will take more than a simple majority to sway the composition of the representatives, so that more than a simple majority will be required to alter policies. The separation of powers involves the division of the federal government into three different branches: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. All three branches have equal power and its leaders are chosen in different manners, helping insulate the government from majority whims. The system of checks and balances works within the separation of powers and demonstrates how each of the three branches can help mitigate the impact of the other branches. For example, the legislature confirms federal judiciary appointments and can bring impeachment proceedings against members of the executive. The executive branch has veto power over legislation and appoints federal judges. The judicial branch determines when a law is unconstitutional. The separation of powers prevents any one branch from obtaining too much power. For example, while the executive and the legislative branches oversee judicial appointments, the federal judiciary are appointed for life, so that their appointments will not be subject to the same whims of the majority as elections will be.

5. (a) Explain the meaning of the term "Federalism" as it applies to the Constitution.

A b)

Explain how this concept operates in practice.

Explain the meaning of "Supremacy Clause." d)

Explain how Federalism serves the two primary goals of the Framers as described in Question # 4.

Federalism as it applies to the Constitution gives the national government certain enumerated rights, and the right to pass any laws necessary to carry out its enumerated rights, but reserves the rest of the rights to the state governments. It was the Framers' way of ensuring that the federal government did not get too much power, like King George had. It was also the Framers' way of respecting the regional differences that existed in the colonies prior to the Revolution, because there was considerable disagreement on certain key issues, most notably the issue of slavery. Up until the Civil War, the concept of federalism operated much in the way that the Framers' intended. However, after the Civil War, the federal government grew exponentially, which it had to do in order to protect the rights of recently freed slaves and to reconcile a country that had been divided by war. Today, there are few laws that will not be found to be constitutional under the Commerce Clause, even if they have only the slightest relationship to interstate commerce. The Supremacy Clause declares that the Constitution, federal laws, and U.S. treaties are the supreme law of the United States, and that states are required to enforce them, even if they conflict with state law. Federalism serves the Framers' goals by giving people representation as members of a state and members of a nation, lessening the likelihood that a simple majority will control the federal government. Federalism also reserves substantial power to the states, which decentralizes the government. For example, states are free to pass and enforce any laws that do not conflict with federal laws, and the federal government is, at least theoretically, limited to passing laws related to its enumerated powers.

A a)

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