The Federalist Papers are eighty five letters written to newspapers during the late 1780s by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay with the intent to urge a ratification of the U.S Constitution. Madison wrote about two thirds of theses essays. The paper that interest me is federalist 51: "But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angles, no government would be necessary".
The reason why I picked this quote is because as Madison I also agree that we need a government because we are not angels, a government that would protect the liberty of people, one which represents the liberties that we the people want.
I agree that all countries need a government because we are not angles, people have different point of views and it would be chaos if no one would be in charge of the country. The government that we choose should represent us; the government should be able to control the governed and also to control itself.
From federalist 10 the quote that i picked is: "There are two of curing the mischief of faction,the one, by removing its causes; the other, by controlling its effects".
According to Madison, the only two ways to remove in which the causes of faction can be be removed, by destroying the citizen's liberties and the second is impossible. The causes of faction is part of the human nature of a man.
I believe that there is always conflict withing an organization and that to remove faction is impossible. We have to live with the effects and causes of faction and the government should be able to help control the causes of these factions.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Trans-national America Reflection Paper
The quote that I picked from the article "Trans-national America" by Randolph S. Bourne is: "The foreign cultures have not been melted down or run together, made into some homogeneous Americanism, but have remained distinct but cooperating to the greater glory and benefit not only of themselves but of all the native 'Americanism' around them". The reason why I picked this quote is because it relates to the controversial ideology of the "melting pot" in America.
To my understanding, I believe that by this quote, the author is trying to say that America is failing to maintain its culture because it has become a country of a mixture of cultures and that the mixture is not homogeneous. Bourne points out that we do not want a mixture where cultures do not combine and merge together and that America's destiny is to be a mixture of cultures or a multicultural demographic country where there is not only the existence of an "American culture". Also, that all ethnic groups have helped the American culture to be a society. An example that supports the idea that America is a mixture of cultures is by looking at the different ethnic enclaves in New York City, where neighborhoods are dominated by one ethnicity. We see ethnic enclaves such as,Chinatown in Manhattan and Little Italy in Manhattan.
I agree with what the author is trying to said. If we would be able to see a homogeneous mixture we can see that its components are evenly distributed throughout the mixture and that the whole mixture shares the same characteristics, however, that is not the case of the composition of the American society with all the different races and ethnic groups. This article was written by Randolph S. Bourne during WWI and I think that the reason that the "melting pot" theory became controversial is because during this time millions of immigrants mostly from Europe were admitted to the United States. Because this unexplained emigration from Southern and Eastern Europe, the United States started to become more diverse. So the idea of the "melting pot" theory was challenged by Bourne because America started to become a multicultural society. I think that America would not be America without all these different ethnic groups that have helped it socioeconomically. Somehow the United States has started to realize that immigrants from all these ethnic groups need to be integrated in society and provided with tools so they can assimilate the American culture. As for the concept of the melting pot I do not see America as having people from different cultures fusing together, instead, I see a society where people from different backgrounds add unique contributions to it and being able to maintain their language, religion, traditions, food, etc. One way by which immigrants have helped America in economic terms is by being entrepreneurs and opening businesses in the United States.
To my understanding, I believe that by this quote, the author is trying to say that America is failing to maintain its culture because it has become a country of a mixture of cultures and that the mixture is not homogeneous. Bourne points out that we do not want a mixture where cultures do not combine and merge together and that America's destiny is to be a mixture of cultures or a multicultural demographic country where there is not only the existence of an "American culture". Also, that all ethnic groups have helped the American culture to be a society. An example that supports the idea that America is a mixture of cultures is by looking at the different ethnic enclaves in New York City, where neighborhoods are dominated by one ethnicity. We see ethnic enclaves such as,Chinatown in Manhattan and Little Italy in Manhattan.
I agree with what the author is trying to said. If we would be able to see a homogeneous mixture we can see that its components are evenly distributed throughout the mixture and that the whole mixture shares the same characteristics, however, that is not the case of the composition of the American society with all the different races and ethnic groups. This article was written by Randolph S. Bourne during WWI and I think that the reason that the "melting pot" theory became controversial is because during this time millions of immigrants mostly from Europe were admitted to the United States. Because this unexplained emigration from Southern and Eastern Europe, the United States started to become more diverse. So the idea of the "melting pot" theory was challenged by Bourne because America started to become a multicultural society. I think that America would not be America without all these different ethnic groups that have helped it socioeconomically. Somehow the United States has started to realize that immigrants from all these ethnic groups need to be integrated in society and provided with tools so they can assimilate the American culture. As for the concept of the melting pot I do not see America as having people from different cultures fusing together, instead, I see a society where people from different backgrounds add unique contributions to it and being able to maintain their language, religion, traditions, food, etc. One way by which immigrants have helped America in economic terms is by being entrepreneurs and opening businesses in the United States.
Friday, February 13, 2015
"Despite the Negativity, Americans Mixed on Ideal Role of Gov't," Gallup Politics
The quote that I chose is from Gallup Politics: "A majority (57%) of Americans believe the federal government today has too much power. Most of the rest say the government has about the right amount of power. Few say the government has too little power. Americans were least likely to be concerned about the government's power in the years immediately after 9/11, but half or more since 2005 have said it has too much power."
I picked this quote from the reading because I though it was interesting to see how American's point of view has changed towards how much power the federal government has today after the 911 incident. This quote states that more Americans feels that the government has too power. Power which has come to a point of being abused.
My point of view on this results from Gallup is that since 911 the U.S has concentrated too much on protecting us as citizens that they have some how gone too far. For example, the government has been abusing our privacy by spying on our phone records and collecting data. Also, another thing that businesses were not happy about was for the government to make it mandatory for businesses to purchase health care insurance for their full-time employees. So I wonder if the system of checks and balances is working as I see all these things that show the federal government's is abusing power and forcing Americans to do things without us having too much of a choice. Sometimes I wonder if we still live in a democratic country or not or if we ever had a democracy.
I picked this quote from the reading because I though it was interesting to see how American's point of view has changed towards how much power the federal government has today after the 911 incident. This quote states that more Americans feels that the government has too power. Power which has come to a point of being abused.
My point of view on this results from Gallup is that since 911 the U.S has concentrated too much on protecting us as citizens that they have some how gone too far. For example, the government has been abusing our privacy by spying on our phone records and collecting data. Also, another thing that businesses were not happy about was for the government to make it mandatory for businesses to purchase health care insurance for their full-time employees. So I wonder if the system of checks and balances is working as I see all these things that show the federal government's is abusing power and forcing Americans to do things without us having too much of a choice. Sometimes I wonder if we still live in a democratic country or not or if we ever had a democracy.
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Response to first reading
My understanding of "nation building" would be the U.S effort to bring democracy to Iraq, so I see it as a way of a strong country like the U.S to impose democracy into another country. By having power there can be control on the society and over other nations. As a nation has well define its identity politics it can identify itself in the context of religion, politics, economics and how they get to stay strong on their cultural identity.
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