The American US History since Watergate - Assignment Example

Set Question I do not think that the ment of some people are right when they said that “no one really wants to talk about race and racism”in America. The issue of race and racism may be unpleasant but America in general is willing to talk and do something about it. It is just that the issue of racism is deeply rooted that it cannot be solved by one mere government policy. It takes time and collective action to end racism and merely talking about it would not end it. The issue of race and racism may have been more pronounced early in the 1970s as students in Boston Public Schools were desegregated in busing. Desegregation in fact were not in just in the busing of Boston public schools but also in other public areas such as restaurants. This issue of desegregation however was addressed by the passage of the Racial Imbalance Act which was first met with resistance as desegregation continued. This manifested how deeply rooted the problem of racism in American society as legislation alone cannot end discrimination. It was then followed by affirmative action whereby the Afro-Americans who were discriminated upon were given special consideration in employment and education to better their lot. While this is positive initiative, it still did not end the issue of racism. These initiatives suffered a backlash during the time of President Reagan when he opposed the voting Rights Act of 1965 and his support for Bob Jones University which segregated its students. During his term also, race could be a factor in admission in University of California. Reagan however also scored positively on racism when President Bush lobbied heavily on the Senators to confirm Clarence Thomas, an Afro-American to become an Associate Justice with a narrow vote of 52 to 48. Bush ambivalence about the Afro-Americans again showed up during the presidential campaign against Michael Dukakis when he used the issue of Afro-American Willie Horton’s criminal activity when he was in furlough during the governorship of Michael Dukakis. While the intention of Bush may have been to make Michael Dukakis appear soft on criminals, the issue of racism was brought up on the political ad of Bush because Willie Horton was a black man. The ambivalent stance of Bush about racism reflects the general attitude of Americans that while they dislike racism and would like to end it, racial issue still persists. Racism indeed is still a very sensitive issue in America despite previous efforts to address it evident when a riot broke out in Los Angeles on April 30, 1992 after the police officers who were on trial for assault and excessive force that caused Rodney King’s death were acquitted. Similar incident also happened recently when Michael Brown, an Afro-American teenager was shot by a white police officer which triggered a massive riot in Ferguson. On a grander scale, the allegation of racism was also brought up during the celebrated O.J. Simpson case where Mark Fuhrman, the detective who first arrive at the crime scene was accused of being racists as he used the word “nigger” against O.J. Simpson. Even during disasters such as the Hurricane Katrina, racial discrimination is still in the consciousness of America because it is blamed for the slow disaster response of the government as most of the victims of the hurricane was black. In 2000, Presidential election, there were concerns that votes of the Afro Americans may not be counted in Florida. These incidents manifests that America is willing to talk and do something about racism. So the statement that “no one really wants to talk about racism” is incorrect. It would be more accurate to say that despite all these talks and actions to end racism is still not enough to end racism. It is because the issue of racism and discrimination still persist that even if a black American has already been voted in office in 2008 in the person of Barack Obama that despite the power that he has to address the issue, racism and discrimination still exists in America. Question 2 Of all the Presidents mentioned, I would rank President Barack Obama to be the most deserving to be in heaven. I place Bill Clinton Second, Jimmy Carter third, Gerald Ford fourth, and both Bush administration as the least deserving of heaven. I place President Barack Obama to be the most deserving of all Presidents to go to heaven because of the humane and nondiscriminatory domestic and foreign policy that he implemented. First, the ObamaCare which provided universal healthcare by expanding the coverage of Medicaid and Medicare to all Americans especially the poor. Second, he is the only President who called for the ending of discrimination against gays. Finally, President Obama ordered the Guantanamo Bay detention camp to be closed because it tortured people who are accused of terrorism even if there are no concrete evidence against them manifesting his humane approach towards security. I placed Bill Clinton as the second most deserving President to enter heaven because America was most prosperous during his term where the economy was having surplus. He created proactive trade agreement that made America and the rest of the world prosperous through the North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA. He also first initiated the health care reform plan which was later improved by President Obama by making it universal. I placed Jimmy Carter as the third deserving of heaven because of his effective foreign policy and sterling international human rights record. Through carter, the war between Egypt and Israel ended when he gathered Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat and Israel Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Gerald Ford is fourth on my list as the most deserving President of United States to enter heaven because he pardoned the crime done by President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal where his presidency is not eventful. Both George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush are my last choice because of their antagonistic foreign policy such as the invasion of Iraq under the wrong intelligence that Iraq has Weapons of Mass Destruction. Bush is also insensitive with the American minorities particularly with the Afro American when he opposed the voting Rights Act of 1965 and supported Bob Jones University which practice segregation among its students. Set 2 Question 1 It is indeed true that the Bush and Obama administrations and the public has confronted a real and terrifying enemy. It is also correct that neither administration has responded impressively to preserve national security and both have sacrificed long-held values in the process. America has long held the values of democracy and rule of law and along with it are the instruments of democracy and rule of law such as affording the accused due process and a fair trial without the use of torture and violence. America also has long been known for respecting the rights of an individual and by extension, other countries of which other individuals belong. These values were violated by the Bush Administration and to some extent by the Obama administration in its effort to preserve national security after 9/11. The Bush administration was notorious in using torture to anybody suspected of terrorism and in effect, the right of individual to due process and fair trial. This was institutionalized during the term of President Bush as the Justice Department created legal framework that will indemnify CIA officials “who perform aggressive, even violent interrogations outside the United States. Techniques such as waterboarding—the near-drowning of a suspect” (Mayer a, 2005). Such, dark sites or CIA torture camps which are designed to detain suspected terrorist were erected like the infamous Guantanamo Bay. The worst part of this is that President Bush would lie about the practice of torture and the existence of detention camps outside US. In an interview with the Times, President Bush vehemently denied the practice of torture and existence of CIA black sites saying “torture is never acceptable, nor do we hand over people to countries that do torture” (Mayer b, 2005). In practice however, Bush administration was notorious in apprehending people suspected of terrorism such as the case of Maher Arar, a McGill University graduate Canadian engineer who was born in Syria was apprehended in New York and sent back to Syria “where he endured months of brutal interrogation, including torture” (Mayer b, 2005). This was contained in torture memos where a legal justification was made to allow waterboarding and other prisoner abuse (Mayer, 2013). President Bush is not only notorious in apprehending and torturing suspected terrorist but also in invading and intervening in the affairs of other countries. The classic case is the invasion of Iraq under the justification that it has Weapons of Mass Destruction that could be used for terrorism. Only to find out after invading Iraq and capturing Iraq President Saddam Hussein that such Weapons of Mass Destruction did not exist. These initiatives of President Bush was not only ineffective but in fact even galvanized the terrorist as it continued to grow and flourish despite the heavy handed approach of President Bush. President Barack Obama may not be as blatant as President Bush and had made some initiatives to stop the practice of torture among suspected terrorist by closing down the Guantanamo Bay. However, he still had his own brand of violating long held American values with his remote controlled drones. Unlike President Bush who apprehends suspected terrorist and torture them, President Obama resort to remote controlled drones to kill terrorist suspect. Unlike President Bush whose apprehension of suspected terrorist may produce valuable intelligence but has to deal with the difficult question and criticism in the use of torture, President Obama dodges over the question of detaining prisoners by killing the terror suspects from the sky which “violate personal liberty far more than the waterboarding” (Mayer c, 2013). Osama Bin Laden may have been also killed during the term of President Obama but Obama’s death did not stop terrorism but instead created a more vicious terror group ISIS. The mere fact that America’s national security is still not assured despite the extreme measures that the Bush and Obama Administration has done to the point that it violated its own long held values, only meant that it is ineffective in securing America and should try other means of protecting its national security without sacrificing its long held values. Question 2 In 1976, I would still have voted for Jimmy Carter (Democrat) over Gerald Ford (Republican) due to his international human rights record and foreign policy approach of making peace. Gerald Ford only became a President when President Nixon was forced to resign over the Watergate Scandal. In effect, Gerald Ford did not have the mandate of the people when he became president. In addition, Gerald Ford’s presidency was uneventful and was even marred with controversy when he pardoned President Nixon. In 1980 presidential election, I would have voted Jimmy Carter (Democrat) over Ronald Reagan (Republican). Capability wise, Jimmy Carter is more cut for the job than Ronald Reagan who was just an actor. Also, Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy was combative and anti-communist which heightened the cold war with the former USSR that triggered the arms race. Had Jimmy Carter became the president of the United States, he would have continued his less antagonistic foreign policy and saved the United States from the cold war and prevented the arms race with the former USSR that cost the country billions of dollars. Ronald may be popular as a President but his foreign policy is very far from ideal. The billions of dollars that was spent on cold war and arms race would have been spent on social services that made the lives of Americans better. In 1984 election, I would still not vote for Ronald Reagan (Republican) due to his antagonistic foreign policy. In fact, the terrorism problem we have today can be traced back to him when he used the Afghan as its proxy fighters of United States against the USSR. After defeating the Russians, Reagan dropped the Afghan fighters until it has evolved into terrorist organization that we know of today. Having said this, I would have voted for Walter Mondale (Democrat) instead. Walter Mondale is a known civil rights advocate and was the chief sponsor of Fair Housing Act that prohibits discrimination in government’s housing projects. This reflects Walter Mondale policy thrust compared to Reagan’s highly militarized presidency. In 1988, I would have voted for Michael Dukakis (Democrat) over Ronald Reagan (Republican). In terms of qualifications, Michael Dukakis was highly competent having served in the various position of the government as Secretary of Transportation, Public Safety, Economic Affairs, Energy just to name a few. Had he been voted as president, Michael Dukakis would have served the presidency a lot better than Reagan. In 1992 presidential election, I would still have voted for the winning Democrat candidate Bill Clinton (Democrat). Bill Clinton signed agreements such as NAFTA that helped propel American economy. United States was also in surplus during his time because of the cost cutting measures that was implemented by the Clinton Administration that saved the government billions of dollars. If Bush had won, he would still have continued his war oriented foreign policy wasting billions of dollars instead of saving them. In 1996 presidential election, I will no longer vote for Bill Clinton because of the scandal he was involved in. Bill Clinton was no longer as effective and productive as he was during his first term as President because his second term was spent largely on defending himself against the allegation of Monika Lewinsky. I would have instead vote for Bob Dole (Republican) who may not have been as good as Bill Clinton but at least, he does not have a scandal to defend himself from. In 2000 Presidential election, I would have instead voted for Al Gore (Democrat) instead of George Bush (Republican). Al Gore is a pioneer and a known environmentalist who was responsible for the environmental documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Had he been voted to become the president of the United States, he would have raised the environmental awareness not only among Americans but all throughout the world. Instead, we have George W. Bush who launched several wars against Iraq on the basis that it has Weapons of Mass Destruction only to find out that the intelligence of the decision was wrong. Other wars were also launched in the name of fighting against terror but was generally ineffective costing United States of America billions of dollars and precious American lives. In 2004 presidential election, I would have voted the Democrat John Kerry over the Republican George W. Bush. Right now, John Kerry is serving competently as Secretary of State. His recent achievement is the successful brokering of ending the hostility in Gaza. Had he been the president, US would have taken a more reasonable stance against war on terror unlike George W. Bush who would readily go to war over allegations of terrorism. Of course, in 2008 and 2012 presidential election, I would still vote for President Barack Obama (Democrat) over John McCain (Republican). Obama proved to be a statesman due to his humane domestic and foreign policy such as the enactment of ObamaCare, recognition of homosexuals as human beings and should not be discriminated, his closure of Guantanamo detention camp and his non-intervention policy on other sovereign states where his predecessors were notorious in doing. References Gillon, Steven M. (2012) The American Paradox: A History of the United States Since 1945. Cengage Learning. SBN-10: 1133309852 Mayer, J. (2005). Outsourcing Torture - The New Yorker. Retrieved May 29, 2015, from http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/02/14/outsourcing-torture Mayer, J. (2006, February 27). The Memo. Retrieved May 29, 2015, from http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/02/27/the-memo Mayer, J. (2013, February 15). Torture and Obama’s Drone Program - The New Yorker. Retrieved May 29, 2015, from http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/torture-and-obamas-drone-program Read More