...the few states that chooses their judges through election. Even minor judges are elected, from the county court judges to the state Supreme Court, every judge is chosen by the people. This method is fair, since both parties get the opportunity to campaign and the voters get the final say. Voters get to have a voice, and a say on who they want as judges rather than one person appointing them. However, there are downsides to having all judges elected, such as most voters know little or nothing about the candidates. If I could change one thing about the Court System, it would be to change the way judges come to the bench in Texas. I believe we shouldn’t have partisan elections, which will demolish the concept of a Republic or...
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...Texas is amongst the few states whose judges are appointed by public election. This includes local judges as well as judges in the state’s Supreme Court. Every judge is chosen by the people. This method is justifiably fair, since running candidates can campaign regardless of their political affiliation and without fear of discrimination or bias from the government. This also eliminates the risk of corrupt bargains influencing who falls into power. Rather than politicians appointing politicians, the fate of the candidates rests on their ability to appeal to the people. However, this system is not perfect. Many voters know either little or nothing about the candidates and make uneducated choices when submitting their votes. If I were able to...
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...true evolutionary period for the state began in the early 1500s when the Spanish founded the so-called new land and began sending Spanish conquistadors to explore the region. Although they had discovered Texas in 1519 and claimed rule around that time, it was not until the late 1600s that Spaniards actually began to reside in Texas. Just as Spaniards began to settle in Texas, in 1685 a French explorer was searching for the mouth of the Mississippi river to establish a colony of nearly four hundred people when he accidentally landed in Texas and founded a colony near present day Victoria, Texas. This led to the French having control over Texas...
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...the Founding Fathers of the United States of America needed to come together on how they were going to run their new independent country. They all came together and decided they wanted their country governed based on a Constitution that followed natural law. They also wanted the separation of branches of government with checks and balances to ensure no one branch gets too much power, which is still in use to this present day. There are three branches of government that come together to make up a bill and keep it in place. There is the legislative branch, executive branch, and judicial branch. The legislative branch is there to make the laws. The executive branch carries these laws out and finally the judicial branch evaluates all these laws. The founding fathers put these three branches in place having in mind that they wanted all three to have equal power and an equal amount of work. These three branches consist of many checks and balances to share the power; it’s all about compromising. Each branch checks the power of the other branches to make sure power is balanced between each of them. The legislative branch introduces and votes on a bill, and then the bill goes to the executive branch where the president decides whether or not to veto the bill. Finally, once a bill is passed people can test it through the court system and this is where the judicial branch takes places. The legislative and executive checks and makes sure that the judicial branch is enforcing the law...
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...The Nevada Constitution Jeff Dunham Political Science 100 Professor: Mark Peplowski November 14th, 2013 The United States has a federal style of government that was created by the foundations of the U.S Constitution in which rule of law is used to manage society and the country. The way government oversees there own activities is through the distribution of authority within the different branches of government, called separation of powers. Separation of Power is a way for each branch of government to have enough power to not over dominate over another and thus keep an eye on each other. This process is used to moderate branches of government through a structure called checks and balance. The state and national level use the same structure to govern themselves; the differences and similarities between both of them come down to the way the rule of law is used in the democratic process. An example of this would be through comparing those differences and similarities between the political power that Nevada’s governor and the Presidents hold; along with the political power. The title of governor provides leadership in the state by representing its interest within the Federal Government. The responsibilities for governor, as stated in the Nevada State Constitution under Article 5 sections 8 through 9 are to appointing leaders, fill vacancies, commissioning people to different departments, and holding memberships on several important boards and commissions. He is also responsible...
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...limits on governmental power. Democratic governments put laws into place to protect their citizens and to ensure a safe and fair society. The people who lead a democratic country have to obey the same laws as everyone else. Democracy is a form of government in which all eligible citizens participate equally—either directly or indirectly through elected representatives—in the proposal, development, and creation of laws. It encompasses social, religious, cultural, ethnic and racial equality, justice, liberty and fraternity. The quest for democracy in Bangladesh is moving in circles. The country gained its independence through both the democratic process and through war. During the four decades of its existence as a nation-state it has endured spells of military and non-military rules. Of the latter all were not elected. The elected governments seemed to betray superficial practices of democracy. In Bangladesh today, we have a situation where 153 members of the parliament out of a total of 300 have been elected uncontested. Obviously it means that more than half of the population of the country would not have any say in the election of the next parliament. It is also obvious that if there is no opponent, the lone candidate would be elected and it would...
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...ES 213 Macroeconomics Broken Government John W. Dean’s book, Broken Government: How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches, perfectly explains how today’s current state of government is in shambles. The blame cannot be harbored on the shoulders of one individual, rather the repeated actions of decades of GOP and ultra-conservative politicians. Their actions have questioned the relevance of the Constitution of the United States and the entire framework of the government system. Currently, the legislative branch is broken but under repair, the executive branch is broken and needs to be repaired, and judicial branch is nearing the breaking point. However, by identifying the major problems that exist in our government today that mainly revolve around incorrect process and fixing them, and electing more Democratic Party members rather than the GOP members that we have been electing to represent the people in Washington, the United States government can be fixed. The first branch of government, the legislative branch, was broken while it was under the rule of the GOP majority in many ways. The entire legislative process was faulty while under Republican control. While in control, the “Republicans literally cut the Democrats out of the legislative process altogether and legislated only for other Republicans, particularly their special corporate interests” (Dean 30). The GOP was only concerned about passing laws that incorporated their conservative...
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...The Constitutional Convention was an important event because it is what lead us to the government we have now. The different compromises are what lead to the methods that were used and still being used nowadays The Constitutional Convention was a meeting that took place in Philadelphia in 1787. The purpose of that meeting was to rewrite the Articles of Confederation. There were fifty five men who were delegates, their purpose was to have the federal government strengthen. The delegates did not think that rewriting the Articles of Confederation would actually work out. Eventually they wrote the U.S. Constitution. George Washington was chosen to lead the convention. All of the delegates had to agree that every state would get one vote. They did not want anyone to know about what was going on during the convention meetings. The delegates made sure to keep everything a secret, anyone who was not a delegate were not allowed to attend any meetings. We have no written documents because they kept everything a secret of what had occurred during the meetings. The only details we have today is from a notebook that belonged to James Madison. However, James Madison is known as the “Father of the Constitution.” He had also helped write the federalist papers. At the Constitutional Convention James Madison had done a very good job. When the delegates had to decided to write the “Bill of Rights” he was against it. James Madison was afraid that the future people would just go by those...
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...The Similarities and Differences between American Federalism and Indian Federalism Being the largest democratic countries in the world, both United States and India are based on federalism in their political structure. US became a Federal Republic State by promulgating its constitution in the year1789; whereas India became a Socialist, Sovereign, Secular, Democratic Republic by formally launching its constitution only in the year 1950.Thereby both countries had attained dominion status in which a number of smaller states had got affiliated forming a union with a strong central government that came to be called as Federal Government in the US and Central Government in India. Thus both states became Federal Republics. While framing the Indian constitution, its drafting committee headed by Dr.Ambedkar, had borrowed many salient features from various constitutions in the world including US but adopted them in the Indian context. Hence, both U.S and India, despite being federal in structure have many similarities and differences between them. Similarities between US and India:- 1) Written constitution:- Both US and India have a written constitution based on which the federal political structure has been set up and both federal governments are functioning.Both constitutions have provisions for amending the constitution to meet the growing socio, political and economic needs and demands of their respective countries. 2) Bill of Rights and Fundamental Rights:- ...
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...| | | e. the electoral college/state legislators | | Question2 Marks: 2 A new order of demonstrated political loyalties, such as seen in Texas and the South from Reconstruction until the middle 20th century with the movement from a Democratic majority identification to a development of parity between the Democratic and then in the latter half of the 20thcentury the shift to Republican party majority identification is called Choose one answer. | a. dealignment. | | | b. alignment. | | | c. realignment. | | | d. party shift. | | | e. political epoch. | | Question3 Marks: 2 The right to vote was not extended to women in the United States until Choose one answer. | a. the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution. | | | b. the adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution. | | | c. the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. | | | d. the adoption of the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. | | | e. an executive order that was issued and signed by President John F. Kennedy just weeks before his assassination in November of 1963. | | Question4 Marks: 2 No clear evidence exists that surfing the Web makes people more politically informed. Answer: True False Question5 Marks: 2 Which branch of the federal government (legislative, executive, judicial) gets the most coverage by the news media? Choose one answer. | a. legislative and judicial equally | | | b. executive (president)...
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...South Africa and Rwanda are two African countries that have experienced conflict and applied different reconciliation approaches. Apartheid rule in South Africa involved a system of racial separation and discrimination that governed the country from 1948 to 1994. The National Party (NP) had built the apartheid model as way for them to preserve the superiority of the white in South Africa. Individuals within the country were categorized based on their color or race. During this period inhumane policies were used to maintain the dominance of the white racial groups within South Africa. Some of these policies include denying the right of individual liberty and life, dividing the population based on race and the exploitation of blacks within the...
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...Would A Tyranny by Any Other Name Smell as Sweet? First let us understand Aristotle’s conception of oligarchy. He writes in Politics that, “Oligarchy is based on the notion that those who are unequal in one respect are in all respects unequal; being unequal, that is, in property, they suppose themselves to be unequal absolutely”(1301a30-3). Aristotle also distinguishes between four different forms of oligarchies. All forms have a property qualification that is high enough to bar the average citizen from holding office. In the second form, many officials are from the ruling class; however, the ruling class is not powerful enough for complete control so they handpick some officials from lower classes. The third state is marked by officials being...
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...ternational Court of JusticeARTICLE 1. The International Court of Justice established by the Charter of the United Nations as the principal judicial organ of the United Nations shall be constituted and shall function in accordance with the provisions of the present Statute. CHAPTER I. ORGANIZATION OF THE COURT ARTICLE 2 The Court shall be composed of a body of independent judges, elected regardless of their nationality from among persons of high moral character, who possess the qualifications required In their respective countries for appointment to the highest judicial offices, or are juris-consults of recognized competence in international law. ARTICLE 3 1. The Court shall consist of fifteen members, no two of whom may be nationals of the same state. 2. A person who for the purposes of membership in the Court could be regarded as a national of more than one state shall be deemed to be a national of the one in which he ordinarily exercises civil and political rights. ARTICLE 4 1. The members of the Court shall be elected by the (general Assembly and by the Security Council from a list of persons nominated by the national groups in the Permanent Court of Arbitration, in accordance with the following provisions. 2. In the case of Members of the United Nations not represented in the Permanent Court of Arbitration, candidates shall be nominated by national groups appointed for this purpose by their governments under the same conditions as those prescribed for members of...
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...are guaranteed by the Constitution and cannot be denied to citizens by government. Most of these rights are in the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights. The original English legal charter, the Magna Carta of 1215. 2. How are civil liberties different from civil rights? 73 - Civil liberties may be distinguished from civil rights (sometimes called equal rights), which refer to rights that members of various groups (racial, ethnic, sexual, and so on) have to equal treatment by government under the law and equal access to society’s opportunities. 3. What were the Alien and Sedition Acts and were editors if newspapers actually jailed? 74 - Alien Act, which authorized the president to deport from the United States all aliens suspected of “treasonable or secret” inclinations; the Alien Enemies Act, which allowed the president during wartime to arrest aliens subject to an enemy power; and the Sedition Act, which criminalized the publication of materials that brought the U.S. government into “disrepute.” Yes 4. What is the Patriot Act and what is “Gitmo”? How did Obama alter US policy? 75 - USA Patriot Act, authorizing President Bush to take numerous steps to prosecute the war, including giving the federal government broad new powers to detain suspects without hearings at the Guantanamo Military Base in Cuba and elsewhere. Guantanamo Military Base. Obama did halt the...
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...Constitutional monarch Princess Elizabeth succeeded to the throne in the age of 25 after the death of her father, King George the VI. The next year she as given the title “Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God< of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and territories, the Head of the British Commonwealth of Nations, defender of the faith”. So what does the title of constitutional monarch contain and what is the role of the Queen within the UK and the Commonwealth? One can seem that the Queen takes active part in the governing of the kingdom: she is an integral part of the Parliament together with the House of Lords and the House of Commons. None of the parliamentary bill becomes a law without her Royal Assent. Prime-minister of the UK defeated in general elections or lost the majority in the House of Commons submits his petition to the Queen. And then the Queen offers a leader of the winning party to form a new government or consults with respect to whom it may be entrusted. Ambassadors accredited in London work not in some governmental department but at her court, and all honours including titles and distinctions in deed are awarded by Prime-minister on behalf of the Queen. The Queen is a commander-in-chief, head of the English church and on behalf of the Queen all the titles of archbishops and bishops. Formally she even appoints professors to their offices. In accordance with the law monarch is a head of the executive and judiciary...
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