...you ever questioned the president about being a tyrant? On May 1787 in Philadelphia, 55 delegates came together at a convention and started the first draft of the new Constitution. How will the Constitution protect one person or group from getting too much power? Tyranny means when one person or group has too much power and they don’t use it well. The Constitution guarded against tyranny in four ways; federalism, checks and balances, separation of powers, and small vs big states. Federalism guards against tyranny by distributing the power between the two governments. Federalism has given separate states power over the federal government. The state's government and federal government also share powers such as they can borrow money or...
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...What is tyranny? The constitution was written in 1787 in Philadelphia to guard against tyranny. How was tyranny guarded by the constitution? Tyranny is when one person rules over a country with all the power and all the say. The constitution combines federalism, Separation of Powers, Checks and Balances, and Balancing Power between the Large and Small States to help guard against tyranny. The first guard against tyranny was federalism which means the power was split up and not all in one person's hands.In the constitution it states “In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments. Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people. The different governments will each control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.” In the United States, the U.S. Constitution gives certain powers to the federal government, other powers to the state governments, and yet other powers to both. Federalism protects against tyranny because if the powers were not split we would be living under a tyranny....
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...University of the People, HIST 1421 Greek and Roman Civilization, Written Assignment 2 Compare & Contrast: Government Types in Ancient Greece The ancient Greeks were enthralled by many aspects of life, such as art, philosophy, and warfare, just to name a few. They differed on a great many subjects as well, but it could be argued that the one thing that was prevalently discussed among them was how should the people be ruled and by whom? Like all things in the history, the ancient Greek city-states did not settle on one conclusion to this question. Instead, they devised and implemented a wide array of forms for governments over many centuries. These conclusions ranged from absolute power in possession by one person to governing powers being split amongst the masses. There were five forms of governance that were notable during the era of ancient Greece. They were the monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy. Some of these government types were quite akin to others, but ultimately, there was always something that each had that made them distinctive from the others....
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...Plato’s Rule of Man vs Aristotle’s Rule of Law Commonalities between them • Democracy as a form of governance is not only synonymous with rule of law, but also the most effective in enforcing law itself. • The law is subject to all individuals, whether part of the polis or a member of government. • Law according to both is constant and absolute Plato’s Rule of Men Historical Context • Understand that Plato’s opinion on democracy was largely influenced by the manner in which Socrates, his teacher, was put on trial and sentenced to death under the Athenian democracy. He thus concluded based on this experience that democracy is the most corrupt and unjust form of government. • Plato thus set out in his work, Republic to examine the meaning of justice, assess different types of government and then outlining his idea of the ideal state. He examined oligarchy, in which the poor would eventually overthrow the rich, democracy which would be set up by the victorious poor but flawed on the fact that the unquenchable desire for limitless liberty causes disorder and pits the poor against the rich who the poor perceive as plotting against the hence they seek protection. In tyranny, no outside governing power controls the tyrant’s selfish behavior. Only law to Plato can guard against tyranny-the law serves as the external authority. His thoughts on law • Where the law is subject to some other authority and has none of its own, the collapse of the state in my view is not far off, but...
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...The tenth and fourteenth amendments were both established to limit the government and upgrade the lives of all citizens. The due process clause incorporated in the 14th amendment focuses on the rights of the citizens and the government. Its purpose was to protect economic freedoms; it was probably one of the more controversial amendments in the constitution. However, the tenth amendment confines what powers the federal government can give. The division between both amendments come on he views of federalism. The first section of the fourteenth amendment consists of the citizenship, due process, equal protection, and the immunities clauses. The fifth section of the fourteenth amendment bequeaths the authority of the Congress to legislatively...
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...Incentives Matter Wrong incentives lead to undesirable outcomes 23 Principal-agent problem 30 Prisoners dilemma 34 Creative destruction 36 Tax & govt program disincentives 38 Chapter 3 – Government and the Economy Externalities 43 Govt solutions to externalities 48 Govt makes market economy possible – rights, laws, regulations 51 Public goods 57 Redistribution 59 Chapter 4 – Government and the Economy II Govt inefficiency 63 Govt allocation vs private allocation 67 Effects of regulation 69 Effects of taxation 74 Summary 78 Chapter 5 – Economics of Information Adverse selection 81 Firm screening 89 Branding provides information 90 Branding versus commodities 92 Signaling mechanisms 93 Chapter 6 – Productivity and Human Capital Human capital 98 Job creation 103 Effects of human capital on standard of living 105 Productivity 107 Income inequality 111 Chapter 7 – Financial Markets Purposes of financial instruments 118 Efficient markets & index funds 126 Investment guidelines 132 Chapter 8 – The Power of Organized Interests Interest groups & politicians’ incentives 137 Some regulations benefit business 142 Tyranny of the status quo 144 Chapter 9 – Keeping Score GDP: importance, real vs nominal, per capita 150 GDP growth & wage growth 152 GDP...
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...since the birth of man, tyranny has existed in some way, and so has mans desire to be free from it. Our forefathers in this country fought and died and risked everything they had in this world just to create a place where we could truly, at least for a time, be free of tyranny. They repelled the greatest empire the world had ever known based on their belief that if they could be free they could change the world for the better. We created more wealth, more art, more innovation, more technology than any other nation in history with our freedom. Our freedoms were protected by a document called the Constitution, a document that provided a very specific rules that the federal government could not violate. In recent years however the constitution has been being worked around, and most recently almost entirely ignored. We are in an out of control financial crisis., and out government is working as hard as it can to find ways to violate our basic fundamental freedoms so it can have more control. We are in so many countries with our army that it’s getting hard to count. We are becoming the very empire we fought so hard to escape. If only we would follow our constitution more closely, we wouldn’t be in this mess. The Constitution ensures that the government has a very limited and specific duty: To provide for the common defense of the nation as a whole, and to provide mechanisms to allow trade between the states, and to other countries. The state governments were given powers above that...
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...* Ratifying the Constitution: Anti-Federalists vs. Federalists If you were asked to pick a side, would you stand as a Federalist or Anti-Federalists? (why) If asked to pick a side, Anti-Federalists or Federalists I would be a federalist. Federalists believed the Constitution was necessary in order to protect the liberty and independence that was gained from the Revolutionary War. The Federalists were filled with mostly, well educated people. While being more organized in their efforts, people were often influenced by their beliefs. Americans had just been created and were being introduced to freedom of speech. Tyranny wasn’t an option in the states. No one would stand for it again. In order for that to happen, we would need the Constitution. During the time after the Declaration of Independence, America was still in the process of creation. Government wasn’t perfected quite yet. Problems were still be faced due to the Articles of Confederation. The problems that came along with it were • Unanimous approval for voting from all 13 states • They cannot regulate trade • No power to tax • No executive branch • No army or military Hopefully, the Constitution could change things. We would have three branches of government. The judicial, legislative, and executive branch. Each branch had equal ruling, or power. Laws each branch wanted to pass would have to be passed along to other branches, and...
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...Independence 1776 Declaration of Independence- ideology, Constitution- gives form to the declaration. People enjoy rights not given by government. Government doesn’t do something to you. Government prevented from taking them away. Government is the problem, not the solution. Policy is inherently bad. It was the fear of what the government could do to you that motivated its nationhood. Why the US is different -founded on an idea - Born free- rights are inalienable -Wary on power -Strong on nationhood -Founded on ‘science of politics’ -People are supreme via Constitution The politics of a written text ‘Scarcely any political question arises in the United States that is not resolved, sooner or later, into a judicial question.’ Alexis de Tocqueville (1840) Democracy in America, Book I, ch.16 -slavery -civil rights -abortion -healthcare Constitution Problematic Bill of Rights (1791) The first 10 amendments to the Constitution -1,2,3: limits of Congress 4, 5, 6: limits on executive 7, 8: limits on both (via judiciary) 9, 10: federalism (limits on national power) All posit limits on the institutions in the Constitution. Two parts of the doc, the first iteration is not sufficient to cool the fears of the anti-federalism. Madison creates these posited limits. The Separation of Powers The basic problem of government. How one separates power. There are 3 key obstacles to power in the USA. SoP – obliges competition across departments. Federalism...
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...power of judicial review. It is arguable that it is essential for the supreme court to have such powers in order to allow the American democracy to flourish. However, there is much evidence to suggest that the supreme court holds too much power for an unelected body, thus hindering democracy. The ambiguity of the constitution means that there is much room for interpretation. Since interpreting the constitution is the role of the supreme court, the supreme court is often seen as a quasi legislative body. This is because through its interpretations, particularly those made by loose contructionists, the supreme court acts as an additional legislature. It's decisions can have the same effect as passing legislation. For example, the Grutter vs Bollinger decision (2008) involved the courts laying down a time frame for which affirmative action can be deemed necessary. This effectively acted as a piece of legislation even though it did not pass through Congress. This can be seen as being problematic and potentially damaging for a Democracy. Justices are unelected, they therefore lack legitimacy and should not be allowed to act as an additional legislature as this is the role of Congress who are elected and therefore have a mandate and legitimacy to make laws and so the power of the supreme court cannot be justified in a democracy. Furthermore, the supreme court is far too powerful because their decisions can result in power being taken away from the people and being placed in the...
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...more than one chapter. Lec. 1-2 What is Politics? Concepts from the Lecture: Politics ‘Polis’ Plato Machiavelli Modern Age Thomas Hobbes Leviathan Concepts from the Texts: ‘Simile of the Cave’ ‘fortuna’ philosopher-king Behavioural Approach Class Analysis Elite theory Pluralism Institutionalism ‘Power to’ vs. ‘Power over’ Lec. 3 What is the State? Concepts from the Lecture: Treaty of Westphalia Social Contract Legal-institutionalism Branches of State Levels of State Elitism Pluralism Additional Concepts from the Texts: Night Watchman State Neo-liberal state Welfare State Liberal Democracy Lec. 4 The State: Power, Authority, and Sovereignty Concepts from the Lectures and Readings: Power Authority Sovereignty Weber’s Typology of Authority Concepts from Readings: See Lec. 3 concepts Lec. 5 Political Ideologies: Liberalism Concepts from the Lecture Ideology Left vs. Right ideologies John Locke/ Two Treatises of Government J.S. Mill/ On Liberty Tenets of Liberalism Welfare Liberalism vs. Libertarianism Concepts from Readings The Republic State of nature Tyranny of the majority Harm Principle ‘Politics as a Vocation’ Equality Rights Lec. 6 Republicanism, Conservatism and Socialism Concepts from the Lecture Republicanism Roman ‘Res publica’ Jean Jacques Rousseau Edmund Burke / Reflections on...
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...conclusion. It attempts to explore contradictions of democracy whether democracy is a best system of governance? Is true democracy possible? Has it to be moral in character? Why other systems of governance tend to challenge the basic fabrics of democracy? Why democracy has turned out to be more productive than other forms of government? Then focus shifts to paradoxes entailed in self evident truth of American democracy. Is American democracy a representative of a true democracy? Does it cater the smaller factions of society? Has the democratic system fostered the rights of liberty, justice, life and pursuit of happiness to good effect for masses once challenged by terrorism, racism, poverty and recession? What good it has brought to its people? Why does America deserve to lead world community? Finally, conclusion is inquired about by addressing the question that How American dream can be pursued in its true democratic meaning? Isn’t it strange that few render democracy as the bludgeoning of the people, by the people, for the people? On the other hand, for some, it is a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people; a government after the principles of eternal justice, the unchanging law of God; the idea of freedom. Idea of democracy as rule of people traces its expression from Athens in ancient Greek. From a philosophical stand point doctrines of natural law evolved into the idea of natural rights, i.e., all people have certain rights, such as...
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...Democracy and participation: Democracy = a political system based on the idea that government should serve the interests of the people. Legitimacy = the extent to which a government has the right to rule and exercise power. Power vs. Authority: * Power= the ability to make someone do something that they would not do of their own free will * E.g - Coercion – the use of force to achieve ends – the military * Authority = the right to exercise power (based on the consent of those being ruled) * E.g - Legal/rational – HOC * E.g – Traditional – HOL Modern democracies have: Political tolerance Peaceful transition of power Free, fair and regular elections The government is accountable to the people The rule of law Freedom of the media Modern democracies have: Political tolerance Peaceful transition of power Free, fair and regular elections The government is accountable to the people The rule of law Freedom of the media What makes a government legitimate? * Referendums (‘Yes’ answers) * High turnout * Free, fair and regular elections * Lack of dissent * Displays of public support How legitimate is the UK? Legitimate | Not legitimate | * House of Commons is elected | * Electoral system unfair and distorts political representation (FPTP) | * Government elected with mandate to govern | * Every government elected has only achieved the minority of the popular vote | * House of Lords has traditional authority...
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...Moroccan Vs American Political system The Kingdom of Morocco, is located on the Northwestern coast Africa and it’s the first country to recognize the sovereignty of the United States in 1777. Morocco, has a unitary form of government in which there are no states. As well as a constitutional democracy form of government wherein the country is ruled by king Mohammed6 and has absolute control of the country. Nonetheless, the king follows the constitution and uses the help of the prime minister. The voting age in Morocco is 18, though the citizens can't vote for their king since Morocco has a constitutional monarchy. However, the citizens are allowed to vote for the other people in the government that assist in running the country. The Kingdom of Morocco established a constitutional monarchy based on Islamic law, French and Spanish civil law systems soon after getting independence. Unlike the United States, monarchy is an advantage in Morocco since only limited people are in charge and makes it easier to make decisions because of less opinions. Furthermore, the Moroccan Political System is made up of three branches, the executive branch, The Legislative Branch and the judicial branch which are equal and benefit the country to run correctly. The executive branch carries out and proposes new laws and ideas to improve the country. Moreover, the king is the chief of the country and is the main person in the executive branch. In addition, he selects the prime...
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...the US constitution if I was drafting a constitution in the year 2012”. One argument that supports the view that a constitution written in the eighteenth century does not work in the twenty first century is the US constitution handing too much power to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has made several controversial and contentious decisions which arguably have weak constitutional foundation in cases such as Citizens United 2010 and Roe vs. Wade in 1973. Because there is no appeals process, these decisions cannot be challenged. There is an amendment process that could overturn these decisions but this is difficult to achieve in modern circumstances. The Supreme Court is an unelected body that is given too much power and can make decisions at the expense of elected representatives with mandates. This agrees that constitution written in the eighteenth century does not work in the twenty first century because it gives too much power to an unelected body. Because the UK has a uncodified constitution, this is not the case. The UK government can withdraw the Supreme Court’s powers by revoking the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. A further argument that supports the view...
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