Discussing Issues Concerning the US Government - Assignment Example

American Government Discuss the reasons for the filibuster in the U.S. Senate. Do you think the filibuster should be eliminated? Why or why not? A filibuster in the U.S. senate refers to obstructive tactics used in preventing a measure brought to a vote (Magruder 73). One of the chief reasons for a filibuster in the senate is to bring constitutional checks and balances between the minor and key parties in the senate. This stems from the fact that the majority can go awry in the decisions regarding national matters. Another reason for filibuster in the senate is to grant some real powers to the minority party. This is because the minority party can have powers to control the interests of the majority party in doing as they wish and desire. In addition, another reason for filibuster in the senate is to keep the senate from becoming a House, which may be succumbed to the passions of the day. In my view, I think filibuster should not be eliminated since it is a remarkably crucial and unique issue in the U.S. government. The filibuster should not be eliminated since it is a strong tool to the minority party. The minority can use the filibuster in making a point or trying to get their way. In the senate, a senator or his minority party can block a full nomination or senate consideration of a certain bill through unlimited debate of a proposal. The use of the filibuster by the minority ensures representation of the minority party in the senate, which creates a balance in the senate. Hence, the filibuster in the senate should not be eliminated since its withdrawal in the senate would threaten free speech and debate in the senate. List and explain some of the various roles (constitutional and extraconstitutional) that a president must play. Of these roles, which role do you believe is most important for a president, and why? The American president has both constitutional and extra constitutional roles with which he is associated. One of the constitutional roles of the American president is assuming the role of chief of state. Through this role, the president acts as a symbolic leader of America and abroad. When assuming this role, the president should be above politics. Another constitutional role assumed by the president is that of the chief administrator. In playing this role, the president is responsible for executing all rules and overseeing the bureaucracy. Another constitutional role is being the chief commander. In assuming this role, the president does not play a symbolic role; he decides what to do in times of conflict. The president is given a superior ability in assessing and reacting to situations. In addition, the president plays a constitutional role in assuming the role of a chief diplomat. In this role, the president determines countries to negotiate foreign policies and the ones to recognize officially. On the other hand, the president plays the role of a party leader as one of the extra constitutional roles. Another extra constitutional role played by the president is that of an economy manager. In taking this responsibility, the president directs the economy. In addition, another extra constitutional role of the president is being the voice of the people. The president represents all the people for the entire nation since it is the only position, which the whole nation has to decide who will be the leader. Of these roles, I think being the chief commander is the most vital role. This stems from the fact that the president is capable of analyzing situations and coming up with strategies to protect the nation. Describe the process whereby the Supreme Court sets its agenda, makes its decisions, and delivers them to the public. The process of Supreme Court’s agenda-setting commences when a party loses a case in a lower court, desires the Supreme Court to evaluate the verdict of the lower court, and files a petition for an appeal with the court or a writ of certiorari. After the petition for certiorari and entire accompanying briefs are recorded, the office of the Supreme Court clerk circulates the material to the chambers of justice (Magruder 122). Every cert petition is assigned to a cert pool, which comprises of law clerks from seven of the chambers of justice. The relevance of the cert pool is to divide the petitions to manageable divisions; this enables the law clerks to have sufficient time in drafting adequate summaries and making recommendations for every case. The cert pool memo is then circulated to every justice’s chambers, where they are reviewed. Prior to every conference for discussing cert petitions, the chief justice has to circulate all the petitions the court should discuss bearing their names. Other justices can opt to add on the list of cases provided by the chief justice for discussion; however, no justice can remove the cases presented by the chief justice (Magruder 118). Once the case list is finalized, the chief justice sends the list to the entire court for discussion. In the discussion, voting takes place guaranteeing a court decision on whether to continue with the case or drop the case. It is after the discussion by the entire court that the court delivers its decision to the public. Explain the debate over the rights of habeas corpus with respect to detainees in the war on terrorism. How do the rights of terror suspects differ from the rights of criminal defendants in the United States? In the U.S., the Supreme Court had the controversial debate over terrorist detainees and decided that the terrorist detainees have the rights to be protected against indefinite detention without a trial or charges (Magruder 92). These are known as the Habeas corpus rights. Although these rights were not initially enjoyed by the terrorist detainees, the terrorist detainees can now enjoy the rights after the Supreme Court determination that, although the terrorist detainees are not citizens of the American nation, they are also people who should enjoy the rights to be protected from indefinite detention without facing a trial or charges. This right to the terrorist detainees is not a civil right under the American constitution, but it is a right that individuals posses naturally. Since this right is possessed naturally by people, the government should not infringe the rights to the terrorist detainees. However, this right to terrorist detainees poses a threat on American security since terrorists can use technology making war on terror a difficult war to win. In America, the rights of terror suspects differ from those of criminal defendants in a vast way. Criminal defendants are usually taken as citizens of America while terrorists are not taken as citizens. Considering such undertakings, the criminal defendants enjoy rights provided by the constitution while the terrorist detainees cannot enjoy such rights. However, for rights provided naturally such as the rights of habeas corpus, which is not provided by the constitution, both the terrorist detainees and criminal defendants in the U.S. can enjoy the rights. Overall, assess the success of the women’s rights movement in the United States. In what ways has the movement been successful? In what ways has it fallen short of its goals? What is the state of woman’s rights today? The women’s rights movement became established in 1848, when the first women’s rights convention in Seneca falls. Despite the dissension in the ranks and leadership of the movement, the women’s rights movement achieved a lot within a short period. One of the successes achieved by the movement was the gaining of voting rights. Women did not have a right to vote, but the movement initiated the change in Wyoming territory before spreading to other areas in the United States (Magruder 56). Another success of the women’s rights movement was in the fight for an equal pay. The movement was successful in fighting for women in making employers pay similar amounts to women and men, especially those who performed the same job. However, the success of this right was met with controversy since it was argued that men should get additional pay since they were the ones who brought food to homes. In addition, the movement was successful in the achievement of equal employment opportunities. Although the movement achieved this success, its attempt to fight for equality met failures; the principal factor leading to this failure was the cult of domesticity in the U.S. (Magruder 45). However, women’s rights today have achieved positive changes since women enjoy the same rights as men. In the employment opportunities, men and women have similar chances and are paid commensurate to the work done. There is no job meant for man or woman in the world today; hence, the rights enjoyed by men are the same rights enjoyed by women today in the United States. Describe the state of the American economy since 2007 and evaluate some of the steps the government has taken to address recent economic problems. According National Bureau of Economic Research, America has been in recession since December 2007. According to the research, U.S. mortgage backed securities that had risks and difficult to assess were marketed all over the globe. This made a more wide based credit boom to feed a world speculative bubble in equities and real estate, which reinforced risky lending practices. This financial situation was made worse by the rise in the prices of oil and food. The emergence of losses in sub-prime loan, in 2007, commenced the crisis and uncovered other risky loans and overinflated the prices of assets. With loan losses rising and the fall of Lehman Brothers in 2008, fear broke out in the interbank loan market. As housing and share prices declined, most vast and well established investments and banks in the U.S. suffered enormous losses in 2008 and some even faced bankruptcy. The recession of 2008 led to a drastic drop in the international trade, slumping commodity prices and rise in unemployment. The recession of 2008 made the economy have a slow growth rate in 2009 throughout 2011; the economy tried to recover. However, the rate of employment has faced a growth but has not reached the required growth rate. Currently, the unemployment rate stands at around 8.2-9%, which is still high. In dealing with the current situation of unemployment and inflation, the U.S. government is applying monetary and fiscal policies. The government is focusing on expansionary policy measures to overcome the situation of inflation and unemployment. Works Cited Magruder, Frank. American Government: A Consideration of the Problems of Democracy. New York: Prentice Hall, 2004. Print. Read More